Roy Hodgson said he was satisfied with Fulham's performance against the Hammers on Saturday - but a third defeat in a week has tarnished a great start to the season.
The Whites have not beaten West Ham at home in the Premier League era and were once again left pointless by the visitors.
The signs were promising early on that the trend would be broken, with Bobby Zamora twice going close to netting against his former club.
But the afternoon drifted spectacularly away from Fulham in a crazy five minute spell before the break.
First Carlton Cole, then Matthew Etherington scored for West Ham against the run of play before Whites striker Andy Johnson received a red card for his second reckless challenge of the day.
Johnson could have no complaints about his two yellow cards. His second foul for a raised foot on Lucas Neill was a poor challenge for a man already on a yellow card and his first offence warranted a red. He was lucky his awful lunge at Herita Ilunga was not treated more harshly by ref Andre Marriner.
Danny Murphy pulled a goal back from the penalty spot for the 10 men - who put up a spirited display after the break in their vain attempt to rescue a lost cause.
The first home loss of the campaign follows on from disappointing 1-0 defeats at Blackburn in the league and Burnley in the Carling Cup.
