Cairney strikes in injury time to rescue Fulham
Fulham 1 Bolton Wanderers 1
Tom Cairney marked his return to the Fulham starting line-up with an equaliser deep into added-on time to prevent a shock defeat against the Championship’s basement club.
Shola Ameobi’s first-half goal looked to have earned Bolton only their second win of the campaign.
But Cairney – making his first start since August – headed in Kevin McDonald’s cross in the 94th minute to rescue a point.
Fulham thought they had taken the lead on 15 minutes through Floyd Ayite, but he was adjudged offside as he latched on to Cairney’s pass.
And instead it was Bolton went in front, Ameobi latching on to a long ball and ghosting between Tim Ream and Tomas Kalas before thumping a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Aboubakar Kamara squandered an opportunity to equalise when he latched on to Cairney’s through ball and outpaced Karl Henry, but managed to fire wide of the near post.
In the second half, Bolton’s Adam Armstrong forced Whites keeper David Button into a smart stop and curled another effort just past the angle of post and bar, but aside from that, Fulham were on top.
Substitute Neeskens Kebano fired over when he would have been better off leaving Ryan Fredericks’ cross for the lurking Oliver Norwood and later had a shot blocked by the advancing Alnwick.
And although Fulham were far from their best, they did make the breakthrough as McDonald’s left-wing delivery found Cairney unmarked.
Fulham: Button; Fredericks, Kalas (De La Torre 89), Ream, Sessegnon; Norwood (Johansen 69), McDonald, Cairney; Kamara, Fonte (Kebano 57), Ayite.
Subs not used: Bettinelli, Odoi, Edun, Cisse.
