Dempsey: Congratulated by his teammates

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Fulham 2-1 Stoke City

Fulham striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored on his debut as the Cottagers secured a tense 2-1 win over out of form Stoke on Saturday.

The deadline day signing from Stuttgart opened his account for Fulham after just 16 minutes when he fired John Arne Riise’s deflected strike into the roof of the net.

It was a bright start from Martin Jol’s side but the visitors almost leveled immediately when Kenwyne Jones blazed Jonathan Walters’ cross over from close range.

Tony Pulis’ side traveled to Craven Cottage on the back of three straight defeats and they were heading for their fourth before the half hour mark when Clint Dempsey’s long range strike hit the crossbar and bounced off Thomas Sorensen into the net.

Russian forward Pogrebnyak caused the Stoke defence problems all afternoon and almost forced another own goal when Ryan Shawcross sliced his cross just wide of the post.

Damien Duff could have stretched the lead late in the first-half when he latched onto Danny Murphy’s free-kick and forced a fine save out of Sorensen at his near post.

There was little response from Stoke, with Walters coming closest with a glancing header, but Pulis clearly had some harsh words to say at half-time as his side picked up in the second-half.

Matthew Upson almost clawed one back moments after the restart when he steered Glenn Whelan’s cross just over the crossbar and the visitors dominated proceedings with Fulham happy to sit back.

Andy Wilkinson struck an ambitious attempt over from the corner of the box before Peter Crouch sliced a volley high and wide of the mark.

Substitute Ricardo Fuller tested the keeper with a low drive on 77 minutes and the resulting corner gave Stoke a glimmer of hope.

Shawcross latched onto Jermaine Pennant’s cross to send a glancing header into the top corner, putting the visitors back in the game.

Crouch should have equalised three minutes later when he scooped Fuller’s cushioned header over from six-yards out and this was the closest the visitors came to leveling the scoreline.

It was a nervy end to the game for the Cottagers but they hung on and almost scored with the last kick of the game when Dempsey rounded the keeper outside the box only to see his shot towards an open goal come back off the post.

The three points see Martin Jol’s side leapfrog Stoke in the league table, moving above them into 12th position on goal difference.

The warning signs are there for Stoke meanwhile and they face more difficult times with fixtures against Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City in March.