The Hammers were cruising at half-time after a Carlton Cole header put them 1-0 up and Fulham had league debutant Kagisho Dikgacoi sent off five minutes before the interval.

But instead of wrapping up a routine victory, West Ham crumbled as Fulham hit back to take the lead with a Danny Murphy penalty and Zoltan Gera's back-post volley.

West Ham snuck a share of the spoils with a deflected strike from Junior Stanislas two minutes into injury time - but it was not enough to save Zola's men from leaving Upton Park to a chorus of boos.

The Hammers remain without a victory since the opening day of the season and have now made their worst start to a campaign since 2002-03, when they were relegated.

Zola said: "We should have been more than 1-0 up at half-time and I had warned the players the game was not over.

"What was poor was that, when we conceded a goal, the whole team lost faith and lost belief, and that's what I really hate.

"Arsenal were losing twice and in the end they beat Blackburn 6-2, so that's the sort of belief we have to keep.

"I don't like that kind of attitude. We have to react and we have to be stronger. We can't let this happen after one goal again. I made those points in the dressing room."

Zola felt the draw was a fair result given West Ham's first-half dominance but, for all their attacking intent, they failed to stick the knife in and paid the price.

"I smelled something was wrong because it looked too easy. We were passing the ball fantastically well and creating chances but not scoring and that's not good," said Zola.

"In the second half, it's not the first time we've started a little bit sloppy. They got back in the game, then scored a second goal and, after that, it was difficult because Fulham are very, very good when they have to defend.

"It was very difficult for us to get the draw but, at the end of the day, it was a fair result.

"For me, this was a very important match. That's why I was concerned very much about this game. It was a key moment (in the season)."

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson was furious with referee Phil Dowd's decision to send off Dikgacoi for violent conduct after his off-the-ball clash with Scott Parker.

"I come from a generation where violent conduct is violent," he said.

"I have a problem getting my head around two players nose to nose and one of them sent off for violent conduct. I have a problem with that."

Hodgson continued: "I would like to think no-one would begrudge us the victory there today because we were worth it for our second-half performance.

"We know that games last 94-95 minutes and shots do get deflected. Sunderland were denied a famous victory at Old Trafford yesterday and we have been denied a famous victory here in exactly the same way."