The Hammers were already a goal to the good when Fulham’s Kagisho Dikgacoi was sent-off after a clash with Scott Parker. After the half-time break they conceded immediately from a Danny Murphy penalty and then Zoltan Gera put the visitors ahead 10 minutes later. For much of the second-half the home side with a man advantage were out-played by a buoyed visiting side before Junior Stanislas stole a point for the Hammers late in injury time.
Following the game Zola admitted he was disappointed with the way his team lost concentration in the second half. “To be honest, I wasn’t very happy, because after the first half I was expecting to be at least another goal up considering the chances that we created. I wondered that the game wasn’t finished.
“I didn’t like something in the game. I smelled something wrong because it looked too easy. We were passing the ball fantastically well and creating chances, but not scoring and that’s not good.
“In the second half, it’s not the first time we’ve started a little bit sloppy. They got back in the game, then scored a second goal and, after that, it’s normal that it was difficult because Fulham are very, very good when they have to defend. It was very difficult for us to get the draw but, at the end of the day, it was a fair result.”