West Ham 1 Fulham 1

So, rock bottom West Ham must wait a while longer to start their great escape following this disappointing draw.

Having been so good at home all season David James had almost given Sava a belated Christmas gift when the Argentinian striker charged down his early clearance only to see the ball cannon inches wide of the red faced keeper's goal.

But while the Hammers defence was to suffer jitters throughout the entire 90 minutes it was the Eastenders who went on to enjoy the best chances of the opening period.

Steve Lomas volleyed over and Maik Taylor denied Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick and Sinclair with a string of crucial stops.

Four minutes after the restart, Sava slid Fulham ahead when the lively Steve Marlet invited an overlapping Steve Finnan to send a low pinpoint centre into the six yard box.

Midway through the half however, Sylvain Legwinski handled Christan Dailly's knock down and Sinclair made no mistake from the spot.

But with two faltering defences it could still have gone either way as Marlet saw his shot brilliantly tipped onto a post by James, while West Ham were full of perspiration if short of inspiration up front.

And as the Boxing Day crowd prepared to head home for yet more cold turkey, ill-disciplined defender Tomas Repka collected two cautions for dissent inside 30 seconds to make it 25 bookings in 53 games for the crazy Czech.

"I'll support my players but I just can't excuse that," declared a furious Glen Roeder.

"Tomas has got a reputation for picking up yellow cards but it's running out of control. He's an experienced player and should know better."