West Ham 3-0 Fulham
Martin Jol looked a lonely figure as he stood on the edge of his technical area at Fulham’s sixth defeat in row.
It’s said any manager is only half a dozen games from the sack. If so, this is curtains for the amiable Dutchman badly let down by a misfiring side with the cutting edge of an airline fork.
West Ham were hardly flying. Indeed, their first came after a foul on Scott Parker, with scorer Mohamed Diame watching his weak shot deflected in.
This is a Fulham side that on paper looked better than last season, but it took five minutes before they crossed the halfway line.
Two home corners, a booking to Kieran Richardson and a wicked free-kick curled in and thundered against the near upright by Kevin Nolan had every white with his back to the wall.
James Collins flashed the next header a yard wide, but finally just shy of 20 minutes, Fulham won a corner to rapturous away applause and saw it silenced seconds later when the clearance saw Steve Sidwell earn a yellow for a foul on Diame.
Stewart Downing was given too much space to cut inside and fire left-footed to bring a fine fist away from Maarten Stekelenburg.
George McCartney was fourth to get a caution when he tumbled Darren Bent on the edge of the box.
Richardson’s high and not-so-mighty free-kick summed up a side in trouble.
Slowly, the game settled down to Adel Taarabt probing for a way through at one end while a back-pedalling defence dealt with balls over the top at the other.
The first goal was tinged, no make that painted with controversy.
Modibo Maiga looked for all the world as if he put a foot on Parker’s instep with the ball breaking to Diame whose nothing shot caught the heel of Amorebieta and wrong-foot Stekelenburg.
Maiga nearly added salt to Fulham wounds when he made space inside the box on the left but fired wildly over.
Hammers were lining up after that, with a corner cleared off the line and Matt Jarvis planting a header into the grateful midriff of the overworked Stekelenburg.
Pajtim Kasami brought a moment of relief with a low left-foot drive that for once had Jaaskelainen scampering to cover. It proved to be Fulham's only shot of the second half.
Downing returned to the other end to attempt a chipped cross only to hit the apex of bar and post.
He did better to cross and find sub Carlton Cole for a tap-in that in all likelihood is a hammer blow for Jol, and when Joe Cole fired home with all the freedom of the area - the familiar manager out chants started again.
This time they may get their wish.
Fulham: Stekelenburg; Zverotic; Hughes, Amorebieta, Richardson (Dembele 83); Sidwell (Karagounis 78); Kasami, Parker, Duff (Ruiz 66); Taarabt; Bent; subs not used: Stockdale, Senderos, Kacaniklic, Boateng,
