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It is just as well that West Ham did not let Danny Ings leave last summer. With Niclas Füllkrug injured and Michail Antonio an increasingly blunt instrument up front, Julen Lopetegui was indebted to a late intervention from a player who still has the knack of finding that crucial yard of space in the opposition’s penalty area. Fulham had led from the 24th minute after Raúl Jiménez finished off a fine move. A third defeat in four league matches was on the cards for West Ham and pertinent questions were about to be raised about the depiction of Lopetegui as one of the game’s great entertainers. His team had been awful for much of the afternoon and it seemed they were going to leave Craven Cottage empty-handed until Ings, who has struggled since moving to east London 18 months ago, popped up with an unlikely equaliser in the 95th minute. Fulham had controlled the early stages. Displaying a level of imagination that came as a result of Marco Silva cramming as much creativity as possible into his side, they soon had West Ham chasing shadows and should have had their reward when the first of many mistakes from Konstantinos Mavropanos was seized upon by Adama Traoré, who was getting ready to score before being knocked over by a little shove from Max Kilman. The argument that it was a canny defending from Kilman was hard to take seriously, so much so that Silva was booked for protesting too much after Tim Robinson, the referee, dismissed Fulham’s appeal for a penalty. Happily for the hosts their rancour would not last long. West Ham remained sleepy at the back, enjoying another escape when Traoré headed wide after beating Emerson to Alex Iwobi’s cross, and their lack of energy was summed up by the manner in which they fell behind. It was hard to know what the worst part was from Lopetegui’s perspective. His analysis will surely hone in on Andreas Pereira finding time and space in midfield before exposing a lazy offside trap with a long pass that floated down the channel supposedly guarded by Mavropanos and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, but the problems did not end there. For Lopetegui, just as galling was nobody going with Emile Smith Rowe when he chased the ball down before it went out of play, turned and drilled in a low cross that Jiménez turned past Alphonse Areola after escaping Kilman’s grasp at the near post. West Ham could have no complaints and there was zero prospect of them equalising before half-time. Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen were passengers on the flanks, Antonio was quiet up front and with Lucas Paquetá starting on the bench after his exertions for Brazil during the international break it was no surprise to see a one-paced midfield of Edson Álvarez, Guido Rodríguez and Tomas Soucek fail to provide any dynamism or invention. There did not seem to be any coherent plan of attack. West Ham were laboured, their stodginess in possession leading to far too much hit and hope, and Fulham were untroubled in the air. It all felt faintly pathetic when Antonio trotted to the touchline to hurl a couple of long throws into the area. Presumably these tactics are not why West Ham decided to replace David Moyes with Lopetegui. The assumption was that the Spaniard would introduce a more expansive style of play, but early impressions have been underwhelming. At least there was an improvement after Paquetá and Crysencio Summerville came on for Soucek and Antonio at the start of the second half. Bernd Leno was finally called into action by Bowen, who was unable to beat Fulham’s goalkeeper from close range, and there was a spell when it seemed a West Ham goal was inevitable. Leno was certainly relieved when a vicious shot from Paquetá whistled over from 25 yards. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Fulham rallied, Traoré going close again, and it seemed they had done enough. Calvin Bassey and Joachim Andersen were dealing with everything in central defence. West Ham threw on Ings and Carlos Soler, and had one last attack. With four of the five additional minutes played Summerville played a pass down the right and Bowen managed to pull the ball back to Ings, who steadied himself before driving a low shot past Leno. Fulham could not believe it. They were forced to settle for a point after Bassey headed one last chance wide.