A 92nd minute penalty gave Bolton the win over Spurs that restored their place out of the dreaded zone again and echoed the frustration for the Hammers faithful of Birmingham's 94th minute winner against West Brom at the weekend which kept them out of striking distance, for the time being at least.
Of course, that 'time being' is diminishing by the week, and, as it were, the waterfall or the trapdoor - indeed, invent your own metaphor - is fast approaching.
And, with seconds to go of those two games affecting the destiny of West Ham, supporters could be forgiven for reaching for the valium post haste.
Not so Joe, who says calmly:
"We are not really concerned with other teams' results, it is just basically about picking up the points ourselves.
"It will be in our own hands and if we win enough games I don't think we need to concern ourselves with teams around us at the moment."
After the win over Spurs he set a target of five more wins, since when one has been achieved against Sunderland.
At the time, that tall order appeared to some as excessive, and there were one or two raised eyebrows, but now the target looks more necessary given the results that those late, late seconds of two games affecting West Ham have inflicted.
But Joe insists that four more wins in seven games is possible on account of recent performances and explains: "
Certain changes have been made and I think it has benefited us.
"Putting me into the midfield, bringing Les and Rufus in, and Glen Johnson as well has helped.
"I think we have got the right formula at the moment so we just want to kick on and try and get as many points as we can in the last games.
"It was a great team performance again at the weekend with four games unbeaten."
Joe is not moping about not getting picked for the full England squad but prefers to put forward another name for Sven to think about in the future.
The name is Glen Johnson, and perhaps Glenn Roeder, Jimmy Hampson, or Tony Carr can claim a spotter's fee for bringing him on. Says Joe:
"Glenn knows a player when he sees one and Glen was always going to be a top, top player who will one day play for England as well - he is in form."