Premier League - Fulham peg back City
Eurosport - Wed, 21 Oct 15:54:00 2009
Manchester City missed the chance to move up into the top four of the Premier League table after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Fulham at Eastlands.
Joleon Lescott and Martin Petrov had put City 2-0 up early in the second half, only for Fulham to respond with strikes from Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey to continue their excellent record in the blue half of Manchester - they had won three of their last four league visits going into this match.
City drop down into sixth place in the table due to Liverpool's win over Manchester United, while Fulham move up one place above Everton to 13th.
After a first half that was open without producing any goals, Lescott opened the scoring 10 minutes after the break to register his first goal for City. From a corner incurred by a Mark Schwarzer save, Gareth Barry knocked the ball back to Emmanuel Adebayor on the edge of the six yard box. The Togo striker's miscued touch beat Schwarzer, and Lescott was on the line to help the ball across.
City looked destined to seal the victory when, on the hour mark, Petrov ran on to Barry's ball, skipped a challenge on the edge of the box and fired in a crisp finish to double the lead.
Fulham have proven their resilience time and again under manager Roy Hodgson, and they salvaged a point from an entertaining clash within 10 minutes of being two down.
Damien Duff's commitment to his defensive duties was exemplary throughout, but he still managed to pose an attacking threat. The Irishman got his just reward Bobby Zamora chested the ball the ball into his path, teeing him up nicely to drill a clinical finish past Shay Given.
From a set piece immediately following a City substitution, Dempsey rose to dispatch a header for his first goal of the season and consign City to their third straight draw.
The fact that Fulham got a result from their visit means that an awful miss from Zamora may not be as oft-recalled as it might have been.
Early in the second half, with Fulham coming out of the blocks the quickest, Given palmed Dempsey's shot right to the feet of the striker. Zamora has already equalled the four-goal haul he achieved in the whole of last season this term, but he somehow managed to steer his shot high of the open goal from all of eight yards out.
Just as Fulham emerged from the break on top, City had begun the match at a high tempo, putting the visitors under plenty of pressure from the start, but it was not until midway through the half that they forced Schwarzer into making a save.
Craig Bellamy squared a free-kick for Barry to shoot, and it took a deflection into the path of Nigel de Jong, whose toe-poke from close range was tipped away with a good reaction save from the Australian keeper.
Fulham should have been ahead before that chance when Diomansy Kamara found himself one-on-one with Given. The Senegalese striker looked across to check the linesman's flag had stayed down, and as he did so took a heavy touch that allowed given to slide in and smother the ball.
Right after that chance, City claimed for a penalty when Adebayor was brought down by Stephen Kelly, but referee Kevin Friend correctly decided that the Irish defender got a touch of the ball as he made the challenge.
City still have a good chance to sustain their lofty ambitions in the next month, with November bringing league fixtures against Birmingham, Burnley and Hull as well as a trip to Anfield.
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