Queens Park Rangers came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at local rivals Fulham and deal the Cottagers a huge blow in their chase for automatic promotion.
A game of two halves
The old football saying that the game is one of two halves turned out to be very accurate in this match, as Fulham went from being in full control of this West London derby to arguably hanging on for a draw by the end of it.
The game was a fairly quiet one for the first half an hour, with the only chance of note coming in the third minute when Alex Smithies tipped a curling Tom Cairney left footed effort around the left post. Cairney would get his goal though just past the 30 minute mark off his magical left foot.
Lucas Piazon won the ball back on halfway and he quickly released the ball forward for Stefan Johansen who squared it inside for Cairney, the midfielder fainted to pass before dragging the ball into the bottom right corner to give his side the lead.
Fulham looked set to go in at half-time 2-0 up when they scored their second goal in the 45th minute. Kevin McDonald played a ball in behind the QPR defence down the right side for Ryan Fredericks who pulled the ball back, which Ryan Sessegnon controlled and then layed back for Piazon who placed the ball in the right side of the net.
Rangers fight back
However, Fulham would not be able to get to the dressing room with their two goal lead in hand after they gave away a soft goal from a set piece in the second minute of first half stoppage time. Luke Freeman dinked the ball in for Matt Smith who knocked it down into the middle where Massimo Luongo turned on the bouncing ball and volleyed it in with his left foot.
Ian Holloway's team were clearly buoyed by getting back into the game at such a crucial stage of it and they were clearly the better side in the second half. The Hoops equaliser again came from Fulham doing themselves no favours just 10 minutes from time.
Fulham defender Denis Odoi tried to show off some fancy footwork as the last defender, but instead slipped and allowed Pawel Wszolek to run through on goal and the Polish international kept his nerve to stroke the ball past Marcus Bettinelli into the bottom right corner.
Club record for Fulham
It would have been a bitter sweet feeling for manager Slavisa Jokanovic and his players because in not losing the game they did set a new club record of 16 league games unbeaten. A flat second half performance though, sees them drop two points at a time of the season where they pretty much have to be flawless in order to get Cardiff City for the second automatic promotion place in the SKY Bet Championship league table.
As far as QPR are concerned this was their 11th point picked up in seven games and it was their 14th gathered in games against teams who've started the day in the top four of the division. Rangers are almost mathematically safe from relegation now and if the season went a few more games then they might have been considered outsiders for a push at the playoffs.