Tim Ream described Nelson Oliveira’s late equaliser at Craven Cottage yesterday as ‘tough to swallow’ but the defender feels there were positives to take from Fulham’s first outing of the season.

The American centre back felt Fulham had dominated much of the contest and believes that rustiness at both ends of the field played its part as the Whites had to settle for a point.

I thought we played well for probably 70 minutes but then lost our way a bit towards the end. It is always tough to give up a goal in the 88th minute, when you are so close to seeing the game out. Overall, we did some really good things but obviously there is always room for improvement and we will take a look things and get back to work.

It’s hard to take. Obviously it was a little bit of a role reversal for us compared to last year when we were the ones scoring late on. As someone who plays at the back, a defender, it is tough to swallow to give up such a late goal and then not have too much time to do anything about it. I think that’s the most frustrating part.

Ream also backed Fulham’s forwards to start finding the net in the weeks ahead.

We did some really good things with the ball and then even defensively with our shape, and then attacking from defending positions. We kept the ball, possessed the ball and created a lot of chances.

It was our first real test of the year, our first game of the season and it’s about finishing those chances but there was a little bit of rust, obviously. Those chances will continue to come and I’m very confident that the guys up front will start to finish those.