Premiership: West Ham 3 - 3 Fulham:

West Ham and Fulham drew an increasingly exciting London derby. West Ham might, and should, have won, but had they done so it would have been a pyrrhic victory because both first-choice centre-halves and Carlos Tevez had to limp from the field. As it was they had to settle for a point which leaves them as far from Charlton as they are from Wigan.

The game started with a double blow for West Ham as James Collins and Tevez had to retire hurt before the quarter-hour mark This flurry of misfortune was followed by a comedy of errors. George McCartney unnecessarily conceded a corner. Wayne Routledge took it, Heidar Helguson headed it on and Tomasz Radzinski, unmarked two yards out, poked it in.

Things looked irredeemably bleak for West Ham, but from nowhere they equalised. Carlton Cole flicking the ball on to Bobby Zamora who shrugged off a challenge before calmly placing the ball in the net. They should have gone ahead a minute later after a Yossi Benayoun cross fell to Luis Boa Morte but he sliced his volley. A further chance fell to Cole and more might have being made of a Nigel Quashie cross.

The second half opened with a moment of sublime skill from Benayoun. Zamora played the ball to the edge of the area and Benayoun, on the run, delightfully chipped it with his left foot over the despairing Jan Lastuvka.

The crowd were exultant not just because their side had taken the lead but also because of the manner in which they had done so. It was his first goal of the season.

West Ham had rediscovered some self-belief. There was a zest to their game. But it wasn't sufficient to cover up yet more juvenile lapses at the back as Brian McBride rose pretty much unchallenged to head in Moritz Volz's cross from five yards. It was another soft goal.

Fortunately for West Ham as bad as their defence was, Benayoun was good. This time he snuck in behind Carlos Bocanegra and Philippe Christanval in the heart of the Fulham defence, took the ball past Lastuvka, stumbled, recovered and struck it into the net.

If his team-mates had possessed similar composure the game would have been made safe when Zamora found himself one-on-one with the keeper. His lack of calm was shown again when he lunged at Bocanegra and received a second yellow card. One moment of skill could not disguise many moments of crassness.

At the back Danny Gabbidon had to hobble off and Alan Curbishley had to make his third forced substitution.

Tempers shortened. There was five minutes of added time. A Franck Queudrue header was cleared off the line by Benayoun. But right at the death more poor marking saw Christanval all alone on the six-yard line and he scored.

Man of the match: Yossi Benayoun

The Israel captain scored two fi ne goals and appeared to have saved his side with an injury-time clearance. He put in a wonderful performance for West Ham and did not deserve to have victory denied him by the visitors' last-minute equaliser.