WEST HAM(1)

Anton Decks Fulham After Curbs' Half-Time Blast
West Ham manager Alan Curbishley laid down the law to his central defenders at half-time against Fulham, and Anton Ferdinand responded by scoring the the decisive second-half goal in the Hammers' 2-1 victory over struggling Fulham.


West Ham came from a goal down to leave Fulham stuck in the mire of the Premier League's bottom three.

Simon Davies put the Cottagers ahead with an early free-kick that eluded everyone to go in at the far post.

But Dean Ashton headed the Hammers level from a Freddie Ljungberg cross before being twice denied by excellent goalkeeping from Fulham's Antti Niemi.

Niemi deflected one close-range strike against the cross-bar, then dived to push away another Ashton effort.

However, Niemi stood no chance when the fired-up Ferdinand lashed the winner into the roof of the net.

The win maintained the Hammers recent improvement at home, following the FA Cup draw with Manchester City and the victory over Manchester United.

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley revealed: "We didn't start so well and Anton [Ferdinand] copped it at half-time. I wasn't happy with how he and Matthew Upson started.

"But they came out to put it right. We wanted to cement our position in the top half and this was a big result for us."

The important change for West Ham was to start passing the ball more quickly to build attacks rather than rely on long balls forward. It was a tactical adjustment that suited Ashton in particular, with Ljungberg supplying a succession of teasing right-wing crosses in his best game so far for the Hammers.

Curbishley added: "We feel if we can give Ashton the chances he will take them. Niemi made a fantastic save to deny him.

"He is trying to get fit in the first team and it is a case of him getting a bit sharper and us playing better to give him the chances.

"Today we felt that if we could get the ball into the box we would cause them problems. We had one cleared off the line from Carlton Cole and Niemi has made a couple of saves. I think we created the better chances."