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Ben Rumsby at Daily Telegraph |
Fulham (1) 3 West Ham (0) 1
Dimitar Berbatov will not forget his 32nd birthday in a hurry. An eighth goal of the season, several virtuoso moments and a hamstring injury, which will keep him out of Saturday's game against former club Manchester United, capped an eventful evening for the enigmatic Bulgarian.
Most importantly, he was able to celebrate a win, Fulham beating West Ham as west leapfrogged east London in an unpredictable bottom half of the Premier League.
The birthday boy unwrapped a 10th-minute gift from West Ham, and the officials. Damien Duff's inswinging free-kick sailed over everyone and even bounced at the far post before Berbatov stooped to nod it in, while replays showed he had been marginally offside when the kick was taken. West Ham assistant manager Neil McDonald was not impressed.
He said: "We're expecting the officials to get that right. Not just one, but three people offside.
Fulham manager Martin Jol said: "They say in England, 'You win some you lose some'. Today, we won some."
The Berbatov show also included one outrageous volleyed pass, which drew gasps from the Craven Cottage faithful, and a gorgeous pirouette, a 20-yard run and a drive that went narrowly wide.
Sam Allardyce fired up his West Ham side at half-time and Kevin Nolan took less than three minutes to exploit more poor set-piece defending after the restart.
But the visitors were not to be outdone when it came to calamitous defending and Fulham were immediately back in front, Hugo Rodallega outmuscling three clueless opponents to bundle in Duff's cross.
McDonald said: "We're disappointed that we let the cross come in and we're disappointed that we didn't then deal with the cross."
Berbatov's final flourish was another close attempt before he tweaked his left hamstring, his substitution coinciding with West Ham striker Andy Carroll's first appearance for two months.
Croatian Mladen Petric boosted his claim to deputise for Berbatov after replacing the Bulgarian, his follow-up from Rodallega's parried shot hitting a post before deflecting in off Joey O'Brien.
"Vital, vital win for us," said Jol after his side moved eight points clear of the drop zone. As for Berbatov's birthday goal, he added: "Good, eh? If we win, they always say that Berbatov was good. And if we don't win, then Berbatov wasn't."
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Schwarzer; Riether, Senderos, Hangeland, Riise; Sidwell, Karagounis (Baird 66); Ruiz (Dejagah 66), Berbatov (Petric, 75), Duff; Rodallega.
Subs: Etheridge, Frimpong, Hughes, Davies.
Booked: Sidwell, Riether.
Goals: Berbatov (10), Rodallega (49), O'Brien (og, 90).
West Ham (4-1-4-1): Jaaskelainen; Demel (Taylor 67), Tomkins, Reid, O'Brien; Noble; J Cole (Carroll 76), Diame, Nolan, Jarvis; Chamakh (C Cole 56).
Subs: Henderson, Vaz Te, Pogatetz, O'Neil.
Goal: Nolan (48).
Att: 24,791.
Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).
Source .