Roberts throws Sam a lifeline

Blackburn dragged themselves out of the Premier League's bottom three with a crucial 2-1 win at Fulham.

Blackburn climb out of drop zone with win at Craven Cottage

Blackburn dragged themselves out of the Premier League's bottom three with a crucial 2-1 win at Fulham. Rovers recovered from the hammer blow of conceding a first minute goal to Clint Dempsey and roared back with two second-half strikes. El-Hadji Diouf drew Sam Allardyce's side level on 69 minutes when he tapped in from close range after Christopher Samba headed the ball across goal. Then with time running out, Jason Roberts out-muscled Fulham substitute Toni Kallio to turn and fire beyond Mark Schwarzer. With the match seemingly in the bag, the visitors still needed Paul Robinson to pull off a brilliant one-handed save at the death as Erik Nevland went for goal in the dying moments. Ninety minutes earlier the game had started in amazing fashion for the hosts, with Dempsey putting them ahead after little more than a minute. Danny Murphy bundled a high ball through to the American, replacing the rested Bobby Zamora as Andrew Johnson's foil in attack, and a barely-there challenge from Christopher Samba followed by Ryan Nelsen's clumsy follow-up allowed Dempsey room to prod left-footed beyond Robinson. The scorching tempo carried on as Dempsey almost turned creator after eight minutes, neatly flicking Simon Davies' low cross into Johnson's path before Stephen Warnock blocked superbly. Dempsey continued with his eye-catching early efforts, completely wrong-footing the Rovers defence with a delicate touch that gave Davies sight of goal. The Wales winger shot firmly but this time Robinson was able to palm away the danger. After 17 minutes, and against the run of play, the scores were almost level. Roberts did well to outmuscle the imposing Brede Hangeland but it was Warnock, who jinked inside Aaron Hughes before striking the inside of the post with a wonderful curling effort, who really unlocked the defence. Inexplicably, Zoltan Gera failed to make it 2-0 when he headed over an open net from three yards following a long-throw routine.

Drained

Fulham's complete control of proceedings started to falter a touch, with Hangeland and Hughes getting steadily busier as Blackburn worked their way into the game. Johnson and Dempsey, meanwhile, continued to prove willing outlets in the final third for the Cottagers, with Davies offering plentiful support out wide. By the start of the second period almost all of the skill had drained from the game, with Gera aimlessly losing possession and Murphy's shoddy backpass only going unpunished thanks to a poor touch from Morten Gamst Pedersen. Johnson, often so razor sharp in front of goal, also started to struggle, taking three touches to control a perfectly flighted cross from Paul Konchesky and surrendering all momentum in the process. It took another fine effort from the unfortunate Warnock to brighten proceedings, the former Liverpool man taking one touch on his chest before volleying hard at Schwarzer's goal. Not for the first time this season, the Australian was up to the task, tipping the ball wide at full stretch. Johnson narrowly missed another well-placed Konchesky pass on the six-yard line as Fulham tried to rediscover their early vim, but Gael Givet was on hand to clear. At the other end substitute Benni McCarthy was having a hard time inspiring Rovers, taking what seemed like an age lining up a free-kick before despatching it harmlessly into the stand. Rovers, though, had their equaliser with 21 minutes to play. It came in contested circumstances, with Diouf seemingly all of three yards offside when Tugay headed the ball into the home penalty box. No flag was raised and when Samba nodded across goal the Senegal forward was in position to convert from close range. Moments later Warnock went close for a third time, again striking from distance and again missing by inches as his drilled shot crept just over the crossbar. The visitors were by now a side revitalised, with right-back Andre Ooijer even going close, just missing with a 25-yard piledriver. With 85 minutes gone Roberts completed the comeback, spinning the lightweight Kallio far to easily in the penalty area before lashing powerfully beyond Schwarzer.

Fulham	Team Statistics	Blackburn Rovers
1	Goals	2
1	1st Half Goals	0
4	Shots on Target	8
3	Shots off Target	7
5	Blocked Shots	2
9	Corners	9
14	Fouls	8
1	Offsides	6
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
67.6	Passing Success	70.1
17	Tackles	21
88.2	Tackles Success	76.2
53.5	Possession	46.5
46	Territorial Advantage	54