A controversial late goal from Nolberto Solano gave West Ham a 1-0 win at Fulham in the Premier League.

Fulham were so aggrieved at the goal that Leon Andreasen saw red for his protests. There were two points of contention for Fulham, firstly that Solano kicked goalkeeper Antti Niemi in the face while sliding in to finish and secondly that he handled in bundling the ball over the line.

The hosts - who dominated for large spells of the game - also had two penalty appeals dismissed by referee Howard Webb early in the second half, replays showing Diomansy Kamara's shot clearly strike Anton Ferdinand's raised hand in the area on 49 minutes.

West Ham had started brightly, Carlton Cole leading the line alone and going close on three occasions, denied by Niemi, Paul Konchesky and a wayward finish before the midway point in first half.

After then it was all Fulham. Clint Dempsey missed the first of two gilt-edged opportunities on 41 minutes when he put the ball well-wide after the impressive Canada full back Paul Stalteri had crossed from the right wing.

Soon afterwards, Dempsey went close again from a Stalteri delivery, seeing his finish cleared off the line by Ferdinand, but his real chance at glory came when he was played clean through by Kamara but could only pass the ball weakly into Robert Green's arms.

The Hammers got back into the match for a brief spell, Cole heading straight at Niemi from point blank range after good work by Freddie Ljungberg, while Aaron Hughes's poor backpass almost wreaked havoc with Niemi just able to clear while falling backwards to reach the mis-timed ball.

Fulham then had two excellent opportunities to convert their territorial dominance into goals, substitute Eddie Johnson firing wildly over when Konchesky found him unmarked at the far post, and an off-colour Jimmy Bullard denied by Green when he was put one-on-one after a flowing Fulham move.

And within seconds the match was lost, a long ball chested-down by Boa Morte to Solano breaking into the box on the right. Niemi seemed to have his goal covered as he came out to block but, as he slid in to challenge, Solano's right boot hit Niemi square in the face, the loose ball cannoning back into the torso - and, Fulham argued, arm - of the Peru winger to trickle over the goal-line.

The win puts West Ham ninth while Fulham remain stranded in second-bottom four points behind 17th-placed Birmingham.

Reda Maher / Eurosport