We’re no strangers to paying tribute to Danny Murphy on these pages. We gave the former Fulham captain the send off his sterling service deserved before he left for Blackburn Rovers and, whilst his punditry has been criticised by the hipsters since he hung up his boots, the man who led the Whites all the way to Hamburg (twice) hit the nail on the head at the tail end of Match of the Day 2 last night. After all the handwringing about Joao Palhinha’s stray elbow and Brighton building from the back, Murphy praised the resilience of Marco Silva’s side for staying in the game at the AMEX until the Portuguese midfielder brought them level with an excellent equaliser.

Murphy knows all about grafting for points away from home. Roy Hodgson’s side were transformed from relegation certainties to European qualifiers by a combination by becoming much tougher to beat. Whilst Fulham were expansive on their home turf, many of the displays away from Craven Cottage were eminently forgettable. Hodgson – a disciple of the ‘two banks of four’ mantra – almost bored higher profile opposition into submission on the road, but picked up many a valuable point through spirit and old-fashioned organisation. The players might not have enjoyed the long hours working without the ball at Motspur Park, but those sessions directly led to the European glory nights that we all revelled in.

Murphy was the perfect person to speak about what guarantees success in the top flight because he revived his career in SW6 having found first-team football hard to come by at Tottenham. The ex-England international, something of a roaming playmaker in his Liverpool days, had to refine his game as an elder statesmen in the Hodgson eleven – reigning in some of those creative instincts when slotting into a central midfield partnership with the unpredictable Jimmy Bullard before Hodgson found the Scouser’s perfect foil in Dickson Etuhu.

One of our correspondents on Twitter made an astute observation in the aftermath of a result that saw the Brighton backers proclaim Fulham as ‘anti-football’ for the second time in the calendar year. He said that the old Fulham would have folded in the face of abysmal weather, a Brighton side who were zipping the ball around with confidence and the concession of a preventable opening goal. But Silva’s imprint is all over this team – and the Portuguese’s commitment is no longer in question after the 46 year-old signed up for another three years at the Cottage last week. He is a serial winner and you can be in doubt that the secador de cabelo was at full power after an underwhelming first half.

Fulham hadn’t managed to test Jason Steele in the whole of a 45 minutes where Raul Jimenez was horribly isolated and the midfield seemed static in comparison to Albion’s adventure. Silva evidently wasn’t satisfied with his side’s start to the second period – making three changes before the hour mark – and the substitutions breathed new life into a team that had appeared toothless. You can’t understate the importance of ensuring that the home side’s advantage remained a slender one until then because, as Roberto de Zerbi’s post-match comments reference, every team has a spell in each match – however small.

The Whites, without an away win since the opening day, made the most of their purple patch in the hot pink away strip. The goal owed as much to Alex Iwobi’s energy as the poor pass from Pascal Gross, with the ex-Everton midfield swooping on a loose ball and slaloming around bemused opponents before finding Harry Wilson on the edge of the box. The Welshman’s presence of meant to move the ball on to Palhinha injected an urgency into the attack that had been missing in the first period and the fabulous finish rounded off a lovely move. The former Sporting schemer might have been fortunate to escape punishment for his elbow on Gross in the first half, but if every a team deserved a lucky break from the officials, then it has to be this Fulham outfit.

Murphy’s words resonated more with me because of the performers of the senior members of this Fulham side. Bernd Leno made a series of smart saves to keep his team in the contest, Tim Ream was a reassuring presence at the heart of the back four, whilst Willian kept probing despite the conditions being far from his liking, whilst Palhinha led by example – as his head coach emphasised afterwards. After the energy of the first three substitutes, including an encouraging cameo from Rodrigo Muniz, on came Tom Cairney to put his foot on the ball in the final stages. This was far from a complete away display, but in its own way, Fulham’s fightback underlined that the Whites are no longer a soft touch on their travels.

Premier League points are hard earned and yet you sense this draw will feel like a win given what Silva’s side had to sacrifice in order to come away from the AMEX with anything at all. The Seagulls’ saltiness in the aftermath isn’t new – many of the same complaints surfaced on social media after Manor Solomon’s late winner in February, but the suggestion that Fulham are exponents of the dark arts suggests that the division’s best practitioners have yet to make the trip to the south coast this season. Palhinha was bloodied in a challenge and Bernd Leno pulled a hamstring – two things that referees are expressly directed to authorise treatment for – and if feigning injury is such a heinous offence that Albion’s own Carlos Baleba should be castigated for throwing himself to the turf in the build-up to Fulham’s equaliser.

The beauty of football remains in the fact that it is a game of opinions as well as contrasting approaches. If Silva’s side, hitherto one of the most stylish in the history of London’s oldest professional club, can adopt a few more characteristics of the most successful Fulham outfit of all-time, then that would be an undoubtedly positive development. It certainly pays to follow Fulham away at present.