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Peter Scrivener at BBCSport |
West Ham 2 Fulham 2
Junior Stanislas' deflected injury-time equaliser clinched a first home point of the season for West Ham against 10-man Fulham at Upton Park.
Carlton Cole nodded in Alessandro Diamanti's near-post free-kick from six yards to put West Ham ahead.
Fulham's Kagisho Dikgacoi was sent off after an off-the-ball incident with Scott Parker but Danny Murphy's penalty after the break levelled the scores.
Zoltan Gera then volleyed in from close range before Stanislas' late strike.
The Hammers, who had lost their first two league games at Upton Park this season, looked understandably nervous in the opening exchanges.
However, Fulham struggled to take advantage as both sides traded possession in a busy midfield.
But the home supporters were awoken from their post Sunday-lunch slumbers by Cole's towering header.
Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland was penalised for a rash lunge on Julien Faubert and Diamanti's in-swinging left-foot cross was met beautifully by Cole.
James Tomkins almost doubled West Ham's lead moments later, but his downward header from another inch-perfect Diamanti cross bounced just wide of the post.
Andy Johnson then wasted a good chance for Fulham, dragging his shot wide after he had been played through by Murphy's delightfully weighted slide-rule free-kick.
Fulham have won just three of their previous 37 Premier League London derbies away from Craven Cottage, and their fans could have been forgiven for thinking that dismal record was not going to be improved when Dikgacoi was sent off.
The South African, making his Premier League debut, put his hand in Parker's face and while both players were shown a yellow card, after consulting his assistant, referee Phil Dowd dismissed Dikgacoi.
Fulham's numerical disadvantage prompted Fulham boss Roy Hodgson to sacrifice forward Johnson, who had picked up a slight injury, and bring on defender Chris Baird, leaving Diomansy Kamara as the lone striker.
Within a minute of the restart, Kamara was hauled down in the penalty box by Matthew Upson and Murphy sent Green the wrong way from the spot to score his fourth of the season.
Green was quickly in action again, reacting superbly to push Paul Konchesky's deflected free-kick away for a corner.
But when the Fulham full-back swung over the corner, Green misjudged his leap and Gera gleefully volleyed in past a helpless Mark Noble on the line.
Fulham then sat back and were content to let West Ham pass the ball across the pitch in front of them and the home side, unable to find the incisive pass, were forced to resort to long-range efforts.
Diamanti dragged a left-foot shot well wide, while substitute Stanislas, Herita Ilunga and Faubert all fired straight at Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer.
But as the fourth official announced four minutes of added time and disgruntled Hammers fans began streaming for the exits, one of those long-range shots finally found its way past Schwarzer as Stanislas' effort took a wicked deflection off Aaron Hughes to wrong-foot the Fulham goalkeeper.
There was still time for Fulham to almost snatch a winner when substitute Eddie Johnson blocked Green's attempted clearance, but the American, under pressure from Upson, dragged his shot wide.
West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola:
"The way we were playing in the first half it looked to easy and I was afraid the story of the game could change.
"It did because of sloppy mistakes and it's not the first time we have switched off after half time.
"We need to work on that because it is spoiling the good work that we have done.
"Good organisation and play is worth nothing if we don't have focus at crucial times of the game - we are playing well, but not getting the points."
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson:
"It was a harsh way to lose two points after we had done so well to get ourselves in a position to win three.
"We played really well in the second half with and without the ball.
"It's hard to be happy, or satisfied, but I'm proud of my players, they deserve every credit for the way they played."
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