West Ham Utd 3  Fulham 1: "WHO NEEDS Craig Bellamy?" crooned the West Ham crowd throughout this comfortable win.

Amid the controversy of the Welshman’s refusal to attend training as he lobbies for a move to another club, and the ongoing rumbles of financial crisis at Upton Park, Gianfranco Zola’s team extended their unbeaten run to five matches and crept to eighth in the league.

For the Italian, it was the perfect end to what he afterwards described as the most difficult week since his appointment.

“It would have been easy for us to fail today because of all the talk about us at the moment,” said Zola. “It has been crazy since I got here but this week was particularly difficult, so I’m very proud of the players.”

If the future remains cloudy, it was some blasts from West Ham’s past that helped lift the gloom. Old boys John Pantsil, Paul Konchesky and Bobby Zamora arrived in the colours of the visitors and were treated to warm welcomes. Since none of that trio extravagantly decorated Upton Park during their time there, it was worth wondering whether the greetings were for services rendered or for inadvertent favours to come.

In the seventh minute Pantsil gave reason to suspect the latter. After Lucas Neill lobbed an innocuous cross into the box, the Ghanaian, seemingly oblivious to the proximity of David Di Michele, casually chested the ball down and stopped to wait for Mark Schwarzer to collect it. Di Michele was not so negligent and darted in to round the goalkeeper and score.

Both teams were listless and errors proliferated. Suddenly, in the 23rd minute, Konchesky lifted the lethargy with a spectacular shot that flew into the top corner from 35 yards.

On the hour mark he regained the affection of the home fans by dithering on the ball to invite dispossession by Carlton Cole, whom he then chopped down in the box. Mark Noble converted the penalty.

Cole’s last was an oddly classy finish to a sloppy game.

Guardian Service