Blackburn Rovers moved out of the Premier League bottom three after they came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage.
Clint Dempsey put the hosts ahead in the first minute but second-half goals from El-Hadji Diouf and Jason Roberts gave Rovers a vital win and continued Fulham’s late-season slump that has seen them lose three consecutive home games since their creditable draw at Arsenal.
There was a big hint of controversy about Blackburn”s 68th-minute equaliser as Diouf was around three yards offside when Tugay headed the ball high into the box. It was then played to Diouf by the onside Christopher Samba and, while Fulham’s defenders had got back to play Diouf onside from Samba’s pass, the flag still should have been raised as it was the same, uninterrupted phase of play and the Ivorian gained an advantage by his positioning, which allowed him to roll the ball in at the far post.
In truth, though, Blackburn deserved the win.
Fulham barely made Rovers keeper Paul Robinson work other than to pick the ball out of the net in the opening minute, and to get down low to save from super-sub Erik Nevland with the last kick of the game. Rovers, on the other hand, worked hard both in attack and defence and after Fulham shaded the first half, Sam Allardyce’s men were powerful in their dominance of the second 45 minutes.
Fulham took a very early lead when Samba’s defensive header was nodded back towards the Rovers box by Danny Murphy. Samba failed to clear and Dempsey flicked the ball past Ryan Nelsen and bundled it under Robinson.
Roy Hodgson opted to use the American as a striker alongside Andrew Johnson and it worked for the most part, with his movement and touch good throughout. His strike partner, however, was less impressive and missed good chances in the second half after excellent deliveries from Paul Konchesky on the left, failing to get a shot away on both occasions.
While Robinson barely broke sweat, Fulham shot-stopper Mark Schwarzer made some spectacular saves to keep his side in contention. Two were from Stephen Warnock, who excelled in a midfield role that combined both defence and attack. The former Liverpool utility man had already hit the woodwork, with a brilliant 16th-minute curler that beat Schwarzer and came off the inside of the post but stayed the wrong side of the goal-line for Rovers.
Just before the hour mark Warnock took a high ball on the chest and unleashed a spectacular volley that was matched by the Australian’s acrobatics.
Diouf’s highly-contentious leveller knocked the stuffing out of Fulham, who seemed to crumble under Rovers’ incessant pressure and determination to jump out of the drop zone. The former Middlesbrough keeper repeated his earlier heroics just after Blackburn’s equaliser, with a 70th-minute stop from another Warnock volley after what would ordinarily been a good defensive header from Brede Hangeland.
Rovers were camped in Fulham’s half and got a deserved and legitimate winner with five minutes remaining when Morten-Gamst Pedersen lofted a hopeful ball into the Fulham area. Roberts controlled the ball and used his famous upper-body strength to ditch Kallio to the floor and lash the ball in off the angle of post and bar. Kallio had been brought on as a substitute for Aaron Hughes, who one could only assume had picked up a knock – it is doubtful that Hughes would have been turned so easily.
Fulham tried in vain to get a leveller, with Nevland’s low drive after Johnson flicked on a throw-in probably the hosts’ best chance of the game.
The win moves Blackburn up to 15th with Portsmouth now in the drop zone, while Fulham stay 10th.
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