Fulham preserve unbeaten record with draw at Blackburn Rovers

When Blackburn fans trawl through the annals in years to come it is unlikely that they will expend much energy discussing their 500th Premier League goal at Ewood Park. Christopher Samba's unwitting header will not make their vintage collection but it created the main talking point for Mark Hughes's return to the club where he made his name as a manager. That his unbeaten Fulham did not take all three points from an away game for the first time in 21 attempts was down to the referee Anthony Taylor's failure to spot the goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer being bumped over on the half-hour. As Schwarzer emerged through a posse of bodies to claim his opposite number Paul Robinson's long free-kick, he was felled by El Hadji Diouf's elbow and the ball comically skimmed off the stumbling Samba's head and into the unguarded net. As Samba celebrated, Ewood Park erupted and so did Hughes, who made straight for the assistant referee Jake Collin, officiating on the Jack Walker Stand touchline, to vent his ire. Fulham's captain, Danny Murphy, added weight to the protest but to no avail. "Obviously we were disappointed with the award of the goal because it was a blatant foul," Hughes said. "The referee has not refereed a game like that before. It's only his second game in the Premier League, there is a lot going on when you play the likes of Blackburn and you need an experienced referee to recognise that and understand what is going on. Maybe that is why he missed the challenge on Mark. "We talked about [Schwarzer] coming for the ball beforehand. He is an outstanding goalkeeper and he was prepared to do that. On occasions he will get bumped and knocked over and things will drop around him. But he would never be criticised for being positive and coming for the ball. We encouraged him to do it because certainly in the second half it helped us. He was positive and brave." Opponents expect aerial assaults when they face Sam Allardyce's robust side and Blackburn targeted Schwarzer's handling from the start of a drab affair. Within seconds of the kick-off, Mame Biram Diouf outjumped the Australian on the edge of the area but his header on lacked conviction and was cleared. Then Brede Hangeland came to his stranded colleague's rescue when he headed Morten Gamst Pedersen's cute chip off the line after Schwarzer dropped an eighth-minute free-kick, again under pressure from the on-loan Manchester United striker Diouf. That incident left Allardyce crying injustice as Schwarzer flapped his fingertips at Pedersen's effort. "There was a little nudge from Diouf for our goal, we have got away with that perhaps, but we were exposing Mark Schwarzer's problems well before that and he handled the ball outside the area earlier which took the edge off a goalbound shot," Allardyce complained. "His natural instinct was to put his hand up and the referee doesn't give what he should give." Fulham raised the tempo after the break to continue their improvement on the road under Hughes. Former England goalkeeper Robinson made the only save of note in the opening period when he was forced to tip the debutant Carlos Salcido's curling effort from the left of the area around an upright and he was the busier of the two keepers in the second. However, he was left helpless 11 minutes after the restart when Salcido's raid down the left teed up Clint Dempsey, who finished emphatically with a header from six yards. Had Murphy's late dead-ball attempt drifted the other side of a post it would have given Fulham a first away victory for 13 months, and something refreshingly different to talk about. THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT BILL BOADEN, Observer reader To quote someone else here today, that was worthy of 0-0. Big Sam has been bigging himself up about his managerial skills this week but what he churned out today was pure long-ball stuff. We don't always get that but we got it today. It was initially reasonably effective – Fulham didn't like it, Schwarzer fumbled a bit, and we had several penalty shouts. But they got used to it, and every hoof upfield simply gave the ball away. In the second half we had to play it a bit more along the ground but I couldn't really see us scoring. Fulham's football was easier on the eye but this was a bit of a nothing game. The fan's player ratings Robinson 6 ; Salgado 6 , Samba 7 , Nelsen 6 , Givet 6 ; MB Diouf 6 , Jones 7 ; Grella 5 (Nzonzi 76 6 ), Pedersen 6 (Emerton 61 6 ), EH Diouf 7 ; Kalinic 6 (Benjani 65 6 ) ADAM WILLIAMS, Observer reader It was a typical away game at Blackburn – the referee struggled to deal with typical physical Allardyce tactics. I don't know how he thinks he could manage Real Madrid playing like that. Their goal was a clear foul on the keeper, though Schwarzer does look shaky. But after that we stood up and didn't let them intimidate us. Dembélé had an excellent game and we had a really good spell in the second half. The goal came from a great cross by Salcido, who was probably my star man. We're impressed with Mark Hughes – we've played in a similar vein to under Hodgson and look better away too. The fan's player ratings Schwarzer 5 ; Kelly 7 , Hughes 6 , Hangeland 6 , Salcido 7 ; Duff 6 , Murphy 6 (Gera 89 n/a ), Etuhu 6 , Davies 7 ; Dembélé 7 ; Dempsey 6 (E Johnson 78 n/a ) To take part in the Fans' Verdict, email [email protected]