Premier League: Fulham 3 Blackburn 2

Bobby Zamora came off the bench to hit his first league goal at Craven Cottage in over a year to settle Fulham’s clash with Blackburn 3-2.

Former Blackburn favourite Damien Duff had struck twice for Fulham but Mark Hughes’ side were unable to hold on to their lead in the English Premier League encounter, with Grant Hanley and David Hoilett twice equalising for Rovers.

But Zamora, in his first league appearance since recovering from a broken leg, slid home the winner in the very last minute from the penalty spot.

Before the game, Fulham manager Mark Hughes insisted that his side was looking upwards and not downwards in the Premier League.

Blackburn, who started the day level on points with the West Londoners, will also be highly confident of beating the drop this season.

But safety is still some way from being confirmed for either side, though both teams seemed to be simply going through the motions with precious little goalmouth action in the uninspired opening stages at Craven Cottage.

It was not until the half-hour mark that either could fashion a chance, when Blackburn keeper Paul Robinson stopped smartly from midfielder Dickson Etuhu’s low effort.

It was Etuhu who set up Fulham’s opener seven minutes later when he picked out Damien Duff.

The winger, who spent seven years as a Blackburn player, cut on to his favoured left foot and drilled a fierce strike past Robinson with the aid of a deflection.

The home side’s lead lasted less than eight minutes, however, as Blackburn equalized on the stroke of half-time through Grant Hanley.

The Cottagers failed to clear from a corner, and Hanley’s deflected strike completely wrong-footed Mark Schwarzer and flew into the corner.

But his defensive partner Chris Samba almost handed Fulham the lead within three minutes of the re-start.

Samba got it all wrong when Duff fizzed in a low cross and only managed to slice it towards his own goal.

But with Robinson beaten, the ball bounced off the crossbar and out for a corner.

Duff put his side back in front in the 59th minute.

Again, Robinson might have done better with the snap shot, which flew inside his near post.

As before, the lead lasted less than 10 minutes as Blackburn drew level through David Hoilett who, teed-up by Jason Roberts, smashed a volley past Schwarzer.

But Fulham finally landed their knockout punch when Bobby Zamora made no mistake from the penalty spot with less than sixty seconds left on the clock.