FA Cup fifth round replay / West Ham 0 Fulham 3: West Ham know there are no points for effort, neither was there a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals last night.
Despite dominating for an hour, the Hammers were left frustrated and empty-handed, devastated by a 76th-minute goal by Brian McBride.
Barry Hayles and Luis Boa Morte put a gloss on the scoreline that was scarcely deserved.
West Ham manager Alan Pardew has spoken about having to shift a "mountain of negativity" since arriving at Upton Park, and has faced an uphill struggle to turn around the Hammers' home form, which has so often wilted under a different sort of mountain - that of passionate expectation.
He had more adversity here, with seven regulars missing due to a combination of ineligibility and injury. You would never have guessed it, however, because for most of the match it was every inch a typical West Ham performance as they tore forward to put the Premiership team under relentless pressure.
West Ham's outstanding player was Matthew Etherington. Each time he went surging down the left wing, West Ham looked a threat, and Fulham's composure began to fray at the edges. Several times in the first half Etherington flashed in crosses without quite managing to find his man.
West Ham were briefly more penetrating down the centre when David Connolly went through on goal, but Martin Djetou made a saving tackle as home fans bayed for a penalty.
The play kept on flowing towards the Fulham goal. Wayne Quinn took a leaf out of Etherington's book to deliver a superb cross from the left, but again it was tantalisingly beyond the reach of Marlon Harewood.
Connolly began to look the part for West Ham, and after a sleek move down the right, he set up Harewood again. This time he went one-on-one, and produced a strong shot but Edwin van der Sar did well with a superb save.
It began to look like Harewood was fated never to score. Another burst sent him speeding through Fulham's unravelling defence. He rounded the goalkeeper but the angle was too tight and his shot clipped the outside of the post.
The longer it went on like that, the more the home supporters must have feared a sucker punch out of the blue, and it was nearly provided when Moritz Volz suddenly found space as the West Ham defence backed off. But when the shot came in, Stephen Bywater saved easily.
The warning went unheeded. Davis shot marginally wide before Bywater was forced to save from McBride. Not long after Fulham went ahead.
Carlos Bocanegra's chip sailed over the head of Hayden Mullins and McBride controlled before firing into the top corner.
Van der Sar denied Harewood yet again with his legs shortly afterwards but substitute Hayles made it two with a close-range tap-in 11 minutes from the end and Boa Morte made sure of the victory in the final minute.
WEST HAM: Bywater, Ferdinand, Dailly (Mellor 83), Quinn, Harewood, Horlock (Lee 79), Mullins, Carrick, Etherington, Connolly, Deane (Lomas 73). Subs Not Used: Forde, Carole. Booked: Horlock.
FULHAM: Van der Sar, Volz, Legwinski, Goma, Bocanegra, Sean Davis (Pembridge 90), Malbranque, Boa Morte, Djetou (Knight 48), Petta (Hayles 73), McBride. Subs Not Used: Crossley, Inamoto. Goals: McBride 76, Hayles 79, Boa Morte 90.
Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).
