(AP Photo/Simon Dawson)

West Ham snatch draw against ten-man Fulham

By ALEX CROOK,

(AP) -- LONDON (SE) - Angry West Ham supporters, calling for the dismissal of manager Gianfranco Zola, were hushed by a stoppage time equaliser from Junior Stanislas as ten-man Fulham were held 2-2 at Upton Park.

West Ham looked to be heading for another damaging setback until Stanislas, on as a replacement 20 minutes earlier, tried his luck from 20 yards and saw his shot deflected in off Fulham defender Aaron Hughes.

Earlier, Hammers fans had been chanting for the removal of Zola whose team have still only managed one Premier League win so far.

Even after salvaging an unexpected point, Zola's team remain second from bottom and struggled to make the most of Fulham being reduced to ten men when debutant Kagisho Dikgacoi was sent off.

West Ham began brightly enough and took the lead in the 16th minute with a simple goal from a set piece.

Alessandro Diamanti took a free kick and big striker Carlton Cole rose above the Fulham defence to head in.

Fulham appeared to be in deep trouble in the 42nd minute when South African newcomer Dikgacoi was shown a red card by referee Phil Dowd for pushing Hammers midfield player Scott Parker in the face.

But from that unlikely background, Fulham were level five minutes when West Ham defender Matthew Upson brought down Diomansy Kamara and Danny Murphy scored his fourth goal of the season from the penalty spot.

West Ham's defensive frailties were exposed again in the 57th minute when Paul Konchesky took a corner, goalkeeper Robert Green fluffed it and Zoltan Gera made no mistake at the far post.

It was as well for England number one Green that national coach Fabio Capello chose to watch first Arsenal and then Chelsea rather than West Ham and did not see the basic blunder.

Green partly atoned with a good save from Clint Dempsey but an equaliser looked a million miles away until Stanislas struck two minutes into injury time.

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson was furious with the dismissal of Dikgacoi and felt it changed the course of the match.

He said: "I did not think there was anything violent about the incident. It all looked like handbags to me and nothing more.

"At worst he has been guilty of being naive and he is devastated by what has happened. He comes from a background where it is much tougher.

"He has my sympathy but so do referees. They are under strict instructions to send off players who raise their arms.

"I am not happy about it. I told Scott Parker my feelings and he felt it was a sending off offence and we agreed to differ."

A relieved Zola said: "We should have taken advantage of Fulham being down to ten men but we did not press on.

"I can understand the fans' frustration but I think we showed great character in fighting back to draw."

Updated October 4, 2009