IF FULHAM’S latest manager was under any illusions in regard to the size of his task after a plucky loss at Chelsea and a dismal FA Cup draw against Bristol Rovers, yesterday’s defeat at West Ham United surely concentrated Roy Hodgson’s mind. Yet again Fulham took the lead, yet again the fragile West Londoners squandered it and once West Ham equalised, only the home side’s tendency to meander mentally looked likely to prevent the points heading towards East London.

“I’m not particularly dissatisfied,” noted Hodgson carefully. “But clearly the balance is not quite right in our team.”

For West Ham, however, things are rarely simple. Eight minutes in, what should have been yesterday’s downhill sla-lom against a team who have not triumphed on their travels since winning at Newcastle in September 2006 turned into an uphill slog after Jonathan Spector fouled David Healy. Simon Davies floated the free kick over from the left touchline, Carlos Bocanegra’s run distracted West Ham’s slugabed defence and the ball sailed into the net without anyone adding an extra touch. “Dreadful,” sighed Curbishley. “A really soft goal.”

Not unaccustomed to going ahead (had his team clung on after leading Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Middles-brough, Lawrie Sanchez would still be in employment), Fulham briefly basked and then, with surprising joi de vivre and with Davies particularly merciless whenever he ran at Spector, looked to secure a lead which even they could not squander.

In contrast, West Ham were cowed and tentative, the pale outfit who lost twice in four days at home to Everton rather than the Trojans who sent Manchester United packing. Their defence was distracted, their midfield desperately slow to track back, leaving concomitant gaps for Fulham to exploit and, while Matthew Etherington always had the better of Chris Baird, the killer final ball his approach play demanded was too-often missing. So, when Davies ran unopposed through the centre of the home defence before Healy wasted the opportunity, the mutterings of terrace discontent began. Then, West Ham remembered who they were playing, snapped out of their trance, shed their torpor, marched upfield and immediately equalised. Fred-die Ljungberg sped past erstwhile Hammer Paul Konchesky and crossed from the right. Dean Ashton ghosted between Dejan Stefanovic and Aaron Hughes and headed home. Galvanised despite their still-ponderous defending, West Ham sought a second and almost found it 36 minutes in, when Ashton met Etherington’s first telling cross of the afternoon with a fierce volley which Antti Niemi tipped brilliantly onto the bar. The Finn was flying again in the 41st minute, majestically pawing aside another Ashton piledriver after the England prospect had sauntered around Stefanovic.

West Ham continued in similar vein after the restart. In midfield, Mark Noble waxed as Fulham waned, Ljungberg was a hive of industry on the right and only Stefanovic’s back deflected wide a fearsome 54th-minute Etherington rocket. Indeed, so confident of victory were the home support that they began to chant “going down” at their guests, even after Clint Dempsey had the otherwise unemployed Robert Green scrambling across his goal in the 58th minute after doughty work from Moritz Volz.

The traffic, though, was one way. Soon, Konchesky was heading Carlton Cole’s header off the line in the wake of Noble’s cross. Cole and Ashton’s nascent partnership bore only fleeting menace and soon Cole was replaced by Fulham old boy Luis Boa Morte, but still the winner would not come until Fulham failed to clear Noble’s 69th-minute corner. The ball seemed to be drifting out, but Noble chased the apparently lost cause, charged to the byline and whipped over a cross which centre-half Anton Ferdinand - singled-out by Curbishley for a sloppy first period – walloped home with a centre-forward’s eye for goal.

Typically, West Ham lost focus and Fulham finally created a couple of chances. Dempsey was unlucky to see Noble hack his header off the line, but Baird was much more culpable when he rose unchallenged to nod a header over the bar.

Hodgson went for broke, giving former Hammer Jimmy Bull-ard his first Premiership action since that game at Newcastle, but Baird’s miss had broken Fulham’s precarious spirit and, sure of the spoils, Curbishley risked a late, late run-out for the far from fully fit Julien Faubert.

For them, the season may yet be full of pleasant surprises, but tellingly Hodgson was careful not to inflate Fulham’s expectations. “Don’t give me that ‘too good to go down’ stuff. It is not going to be easy to retain our status, but we can take heart that it is not going to be easy for the teams around us either,” he said.

West Ham:Green 6, Spector 5, Ferdinand 6, Upson 6, McCartney 6, Mullins 6, Ljungberg 7 (Faubert 89min), Noble 7, Etherington 6 (Bowyer 83min), Ashton 6, Cole 5 (Boa Morte 65min)

Fulham: Niemi 7. Baird 4, Stefanovic 5, Bocanegra 5 (Hughes 14min, 5), Konchesky 5, Volz 7 (Bullard 77min), Davis 5, Murphy 5, Davies 6, Healy 5 (Smertin 78min), Dempsey 5

Star man: Antti Niemi (Fulham)
Scorers: West Ham: Ashton 28, Ferdinand 69 Fulham: Davies 8

Referee: M Riley
Attendance: 34,947