Fulham and West Bromwich Albion shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage on Wednesday.
The home side began without a recognised striker after Bobby Zamora moved across London to QPR on transfer deadline day, but top scorer Clint Dempsey’s 16th goal of the season still had them in front with 20 minutes to play. Somen Tchoyi, however, came off the bench to net a point for the visitors.
The Baggies were also without their main attacker to date as Shane Long sat the game out so Peter Odemwingie, who Fulham were linked with on deadline day, led from the front.
Roy Hodgson was managing the Baggies but it was his former side who started better, with Steve Sidwell shooting just too wide early on and Dempsey firing to the back of Ben Foster’s net. However, the goal was chalked off as the USA star was offside as he ran onto Danny Murphy’s clever through-ball.
At the other end David Stockdale saved from James Morrison, while Odemwingie sent a curling shot off target and Mark Schwarzer’s understudy was also made to worry when a West Brom break led to Marc-Antoine Fortune swinging at goal, the goalkeeper just getting back across his line to stop the effort from squeezing in.
Morrison and Fortune could not find the target with further efforts from range, while Fulham looked to be missing the presence of the departed Zamora as Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz continued to be their main attacking outlets.
In fairness, both had further chances before the break. Costa Rica’s Ruiz headed wide when beating Foster to another fine Murphy ball into the area. Dempsey then drew a save from the on-loan Birmingham City goalkeeper before the game petered out to half-time at 0-0.
Stockdale was barely troubled as he caught Simon Cox’s shot in what was the first chance of the second half, with Fortune also testing the home goalkeeper before Martin Jol’s men got going after the break.
When they did a Ruiz toe-poke was hit straight at Foster, while a trademark blast from John Arne Riise was not too far away.
With the game in its final quarter the deadlock was finally broken as Ruiz pounced on a careless Graham Dorrans clearance and fed Dempsey with a smart pass into the area. He did the rest by directing the ball past Foster, before acknowledging the contribution of Ruiz in his celebration.
Both sides failed to score from corners over the next ten minutes, meaning that Tchoyi – just on for Cox – was able to draw West Brom level eight minutes from the end. Morrison flicked the ball on for the man from Cameroon, and he outpaced Brede Hangeland before finishing well past Stockdale.
Dempsey still had a chance to win it, only to miss a free header at the back post from Murphy’s corer as ex-Fulham boss Hodgson left the Cottage with a point in the bag.