David Cotterill’s stunning first half free kick earned a point for Birmingham City – but they will feel they should have had all three.
Despite falling behind to a fourth minute Hugo Rodallega goal, Blues battled back to record a fourth consecutive Championship draw.
That’s the first time in nearly three years they’ve done that and Cotterill’s brilliant swinging set-piece, his seventh of the season, was as good a goal as any scored since then.
Clayton Donaldson had two good chances to make it 2-1 and Cotterill, Lloyd Dyer and David Davis also had opportunities but none were converted.
The second half was far more cagey and Fulham probably shaded that period in terms of chances created.
But another point to the total keeps the Birmingham bandwagon rolling on as they face Millwall on Tuesday evening.
Initially the visitors struggled to get to grips with Fulham’s midfield diamond and that showed after early on when Lasse Vigen Christensen spotted space between Paul Robinson and Jonathan Grounds.
The Dane found Rodallega who with one touch lifted the ball past Darren Randolph and after keeping opponents scoreless for five halves of football – Blues were behind inside four minutes.
However, one they had sorted out their defensive shape, while Fulham had most possession and looked dangerous, all the clear cut chances were at the other end.
The excellent Davis narrowly missed from just outside the area after ten minutes and Cotterill almost caught Marcus Bettinelli off his line at a corner.
But just before the quarter hour the game was level. Dyer won a free kick near the left corner flag which Cotterill took. The Welshman aimed at the far post and watched in delight as his shot flew inside the top corner. It was trademark Cotterill.
A few seconds later they should have been ahead after Paul Caddis wriggled to the bye-line and picked out Dyer who had followed in at the back only to head too high.
Dyer turned provider on the half hour when his centre was flicked goalwards by Cotterill only for Bettinelli to beat it out.
Clayton Donaldson had two glaring opportunities to mark his 31st birthday with a goal.
First from a lasered 40-yard through ball from Stephen Gleeson which he took on his chest only to slide his shot wide with the keeper to beat.
And then in first half stoppage time he misjudged Cotterill’s deep, left wing cross and headed wide when totally unmarked.
The concern was Blues would pay for their profligacy.
It didn’t look that way early on as they forced a sequence of corners straight after the resumption.
However, Kit Symons’s tactical alterations began to stymie Blues’ counter-attacking aspirations and eventually the hosts began to pick at the seams of the defence.
Ten minutes in Rodallega almost bagged his second when he rifled a low shot at Randolph’s near post, which the Irishman pushed behind.
On the hour Seko Fofana was narrowly wide from the edge of the area and late in the game Rodallega hooked a volley over his shoulder which required a smart save from Randolph.
