Fulham 1 Birmingham 1

Fulham failed to register a much needed win this afternoon against a Birmingham side whose back-four gave a master-class in frustrating opponents.

Deprived of his three main strikers, Mark Hughes opted to use Diomansy Kamara and Clint Dempsey up front with Zoltan Gera supporting from midfield.

Fulham could have had an early lead when Aaron Hughes saw his shot cleared off the line, form a corner, before Simon Davies fired over.

Birmingham were having trouble creating any attack of substance and one raid forward saw Lee Bowyer shoot wide.

Fulham were controlling matters with Dempsey and Kamara working well with Dempsey having a decent looking shot that went just wide.

But as is often the case when a side is on top, it is the opposition that scores and Birmingham did just that.

Hleb glided past several defenders, his first decent contribution, before feeding Larsson who made no mistake with his strike past Schwarzer.

The goal seemed to deflate Fulham slightly and it took us a while to get going again, the nearest we came to scoring being when Kamara chose a spectacular overhead kick, which flew over the bar, when it might have been easier to opt for a header.

The second half started better for Fulham and they were level eight minutes into the half. The goal coming shortly after Dann had produced a great tackle to thwart Kamara.

But the visitors defence could do nothing as Dempsey netted following a corner that the visitors failed to clear, Dempsey showing he wanted it more than those around him to get in amongst everyone to net.

Fulham could have snatched victory but Eddie Johnson, on as a substitute, saw Ben Foster produce a top quality save to deny him.

The spoils were shared and we still look nervously at those just below us in the relegation zone.

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