Zola Enjoying His Place in the Sun

Five first-half minutes in which Matthew Etherington and Carlton Cole scored for the visitors and Andrew Johnson was sent off enabled Gianfranco Zola to extend his 100 per cent league start as West Ham manager. But a second-half penalty from Danny Murphy meant the margin of victory was no wider than it should have been.

With England manager Fabio Capello watching and a sunny sky illuminating Craven Cottage, players on both sides contrived to convey they were playing in total darkness, such was their inability to locate team-mates. West Ham were particularly culpable in the first period, with Cole, Valon Behrami and David Di Michele barely visible.

Worse, both sides seemed determined to trim their wings so that everything went through the middle and the teams spent the first half running at each other in straight lines. Result: nullification.

Though Murphy and Simon Davies did flicker - both producing a few of classy passes - most of the other players had to resort to cheap fouls to catch the eye.

The tackle on Etherington that led to Paul Konchesky being booked was, however, perfectly fair - and the ensuing protests seemed to distract the defender, for he was nowhere to be seen a minute later when Etherington ran down the wing and fired the ball across the face of goal. Mark Schwarzer succeeded only in diverting it to Cole, who slammed it gratefully into the net from six yards.

That was the Hammers' first notable attack, but their second came just two minutes later and was equally deadly. Mark Noble lifted a ball over the top and, with the Fulham defence gone missing, Schwarzer embarked on a rash dash off his line. Etherington reached the ball first and prodded it into the unguarded goal.

The sun seemed to set permanently on Fulham's challenge just before half-time when Johnson, more maladroit than malicious, received a second yellow card for a late tackle on Lucas Neill.

West Ham briefly threatened to ram home their numerical advantage early in the second half and Schwarzer twice saved well from Noble. In general, however, they remained disjointed and Fulham were able to regain a foothold in the game, albeit thanks to a Murphy penalty after a Neill handball.

With Noble and Scott Parker providing a robust shield to the back four, Fulham found penetration impossible. Indeed, rather than surrender their lead, West Ham almost embellished it.

First Cole grazed the crossbar, then Noble and Cole combined to carve open the home side only for substitute Craig Bellamy to balloon a shot over an empty goal after Brede Hangeland had cleared his first effort off the line.