Sheffield Wednesday defied a late Fulham comeback to win 3-2 after Fernando Forestieri marked his home debut with a goal.
Forestieri, Tom Lees and Michael Turner scored for Wednesday with Jamie O’Hara and Tom Cairney on target for the visitors.
Wednesday’s Barry Bannan forced a good save from Andy Lonergan in only the fourth minute when his far-post header from a Ross Wallace cross was tipped over by the goalkeeper.
Bannan was involved again shortly afterwards when he shot wide from inside the area.
Forestieri marked his home debut for Wednesday with the opening goal in the 13th minute, climbing above Jazz Richards to head firmly past Lonergan from Wallace’s corner.
The home side then had a penalty appeal turned down after Atdhe Nuhiu went down just inside the area following a challenge from Richard Stearman.
Fulham’s first real chance fell to Tim Ream, who put an angled effort off target.
As the visitors started to get more of a foothold, Ryan Tunnicliffe tried a low drive and saw the ball flash narrowly wide of Keiren Westwood’s left-hand post.
The equaliser came in the 31st minute when the home defence struggled to get the ball clear and it fell to O’Hara who beat Westwood with a low shot from around 20 yards.
Lonergan made another fine save to tip over a header from Alex Lopez but from the resulting corner, taken by Wallace, Wednesday regained the lead when Lees got away from Moussa Dembele and found the net with a header.
Nuhiu had a chance to put Wednesday further ahead before the break, heading just over from a Wallace cross.
There were changes to both line-ups at half-time with Lucas Joao replacing Forestieri for Wednesday and Fulham boss Kit Symons sending on Dan Burn in place of Ben Pringle.
It was 3-1 to Wednesday shortly after the restart when Turner stooped to meet Wallace’s free-kick from the right, beating Lonergan with a close-range header.
Cairney reduced the arrears with a header from point-blank range following a right-wing cross from O’Hara.
As Wednesday looked for a fourth goal to ease fears of a Fulham comeback, Bannan threatened inside the area, creating space for himself before firing into the side-netting.
When O’Hara hoisted the ball into the area, Westwood raced off his line in a bid to clear the danger and the ball fell to Tunnicliffe who put his long-range effort well wide.
Referee Simon Hooper added on six minutes and there was a chance for Fulham in stoppage-time when Cairney’s through ball found substitute Burn but Westwood got down bravely to make a vital block.
That proved to be the final chance of the match as Wednesday held on to claim all three points.
