Birmingham City 1 Fulham 1

Last updated : 29 December 2007 By Footymad Previewer
New manager Roy Hodgson was given a massive boost after watching Fulham battle for a valuable away point at Birmingham.

The newly-installed Cottagers boss, who will officially start work on Monday, must have been impressed with the performance of his team after their 5-1 defeat at Tottenham on Boxing Day.

Fulham displayed a great deal of spirit and it was their impressive start which enabled them to emerge with a point.

The veteran manager must have been encouraged when he saw Carlos Bocanegra open the scoring after only eight minutes.

It was the kind of start Fulham needed in their current plight and hardly the situation in which Birmingham wanted to find themselves.

Birmingham were looking to push themselves further out of the relegation area but had to be thankful for a face-saving second half equaliser from Seb Larsson for their point.

Larson, in particular, enjoyed mixed fortunes as he was the Birmingham player who could be faulted for not clearing a Simon Davies left-wing corner which enabled Bocanegra to head home from close range.

Playing against a strong wind proved problematical for Birmingham and they struggled to make any real impact in the first half.

Damien Johnson and Fabrice Muamba were often playing second fiddle to the likes of Danny Murphy and Hameur Bouazza.

It was the introduction of Medhi Nafti for Johnson at the start of the second half which lifted Birmingham.

They suddenly became more dangerous, but they still foundered against Fulham's outstanding central defender Dejan Stefanovic.

But Birmingham eventually raised the spirits of their fans when they finally broke through Fulham's rearguard.

Muamba produced a through ball for Larsson to score only his second league goal of the season.

It was a speculative shot which took a wicked deflection off Elliot Omozusi on its way past Antti Niemi.

However, the Finland international goalkeeper saved Fulham from defeat with an outstanding double save.

Gary McSheffrey fired in a rocket free-kick which Niemi punched clear but only to Franck Queudrue.

The former Fulham defender hit a powerful right footed shot only to see Niemi make an acrobatic save.