Fulham edge out Hammers

Fulham's marvellous season continued with a comfortable 3-2 home win over West Ham.

Clint Dempsey opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and an own goal by Carlton Cole put them 2-0 ahead shortly after the re-start.

Cole redeemed himself when he headed West Ham back into the game but Fulham substitute Stefano Okaka made it 3-1 to Fulham in the 79th minute. West Ham substitute Guillermo Franco scored an injury-time goal for the visitors but it was to no avail.

Goalmouth incidents were at a premium in the opening 10 minutes although Fulham's Erik Nevland and Dempsey posed a threat to the visitors. In the 21st minute Dempsey put Nevland in the clear but he did not have the pace to reach the ball before the onrushing West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green.

Dempsey was just the width of the woodwork away from opening the scoring in the 26th minute when his superb turn and shot from 20 yards hit the bar.

The American broke the deadlock when he collected a pass from Simon Davies in stoppage time and fired past Green.

Fulham made it 2-0 in the 58th minute when Cole put through his own goal. Chris Baird's shot was going well wide of the target until it smashed off the shoulder of the West Ham striker and into the net.

But Cole redeemed himself in the 61st minute when he glanced home a free-kick from Scott Parker to reduced the deficit. The England striker cleverly managed to evade the home defence and gave Schwarzer no chance with a deft header.

Fulham made it 3-1 in the 79th minute when Jonathan Spector was caught in possession by Nevland and he crossed for substitute Okaka to fire home from six yards.

Franco scored an injury-time consolation to make the score 3-2, smashing home from near the penalty spot after Scott Parker pulled the ball back.