LONDON (AFP) - Fulham's fight for Premiership survival suffered another significant setback on Saturday as they once again failed to defend a lead and slumped to a 2-1 defeat to West Ham.

An early goal from Simon Davies had raised the Cottagers' hopes of a first away victory of the season and a move out of the relegation zone.

But a Dean Ashton header and an Anton Ferdinand strike midway through the second half allowed the Hammers to claim all the points with only an outstanding display by Fulham goalkeeper Antti Niemi preventing a more comfortable win.

Another miserable afternoon for Fulham did at least have one bright spot with popular midfielder Jimmy Bullard making his return from a 16-month injury lay-off as a second half substitute.

Wales international Davies put Fulham ahead with a curling free-kick that evaded everyone in the West Ham box and crept inside the far post with just eight minutes on the clock.

At that stage, new Fulham boss Roy Hodgson appeared to have got his tactics spot-on with the Hammers struggling to cope with their guests' stifling tactics.

But Freddie Ljungberg engineered an opening in the 28th minute when he went past former Hammers left-back Paul Konchesky and sent in a fine cross for Ashton.

The striker, who is hoping for an England recall when Fabio Capello names his squad for a friendly against Switzerland next month, got in front of Aaron Hughes at the near post to glance the ball into the net.

Only Niemi's heroics prevented West Ham from going in at half-time in front.

After doing well to hold a Ferdinand header, the Finn pulled off two superb saves to twice deny Ashton before getting the better of his strike partner Carlton Cole in a one-on-one.

Cole did beat the goalkeeper with a second-half header but his effort from a Matt Etherington corner was cleared off the line by Konchesky before Ferdinand finally claimed West Ham's winner.

A corner by Mark Noble was cleared back to him and his second delivery into the box was perfectly judged for the centreback to thump a first-time strike into the roof of the net.

Fulham had been outclassed with Ljungberg particularly impressive for the home side, but they might still have claimed a point if Chris Baird had been able to direct a late header on target from six yards after being picked out by Danny Murphy's delivery from a free-kick.