Fulham complete great escape

Fulham somehow survived in the Premiership this year, and all of the plaudits will go to Roy Hodgson. For much of the close season the Cottagers looked dead and buried, but Hodgson remained focused on his job and his side pulled a memorable 1-0 victory over Pompey out of the bag to see Reading and Birmingham relegated to the Championship.

It was the first time in seven seasons that Fulham had won three away games on the spin - and what an amazing way to do it.

Needing a win to guarantee safety this season, a visit to Fratton Park was always going to be a tough looking fixture, but this Fulham side looked knew exactly what the job in hand was.

In fact, Fulham looked disappointing very early on as Brian McBride made runs but with no delivery, whilst the impressive Jimmy Bullard fought away on the flanks.

Kasey Keller had to be in top form to keep Portsmouth at bay, but he made three superb stops to deny Pompey a way through.

The crucial goal came 14 minutes from time, as the superb Jimmy Bullard found space for Danny Murphy to run into, and the former Liverpool winger headed the ball into the net past Ashdown to send the travelling fans into delerium.

What a brilliant comeback for Fulham, who seemed almost certain to be heading down.

But sadly for Reading and Birmingham, they completed a superb great escape.