London: Brede Hangeland redeemed an earlier own goal to head in a late equaliser as Fulham came from behind twice at home to take a share of the spoils with Manchester United.
It had looked like the defender had gifted the Red Devils all three points after a nasty deflection off his shin put United in front with just eight minutes remaining.
However, despite Simon Davies cancelling out Paul Scholes' opener, Nani saw his spot-kick saved by David Stockdale and the towering defender Hangeland salvaged the Cottagers a valuable point late on.
Both teams started off lively at Craven Cottage. The majority of possession belonged to United, with the home side trying to rely mainly on the counter-attack.
As United continued to keep the ball and pushed further forward, it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken. Dimitar Berbatov was unlucky not to see his name on the score-sheet after a brilliant acrobatic volley was tipped over by an even more spectacular save from David Stockdale.
In the end, it was only going to be one man to provide the breakthrough and Scholes did just that. A fantastic lay-off from Berbatov allowed Scholes to run onto and drill a low, blistering shot into the bottom left-hand corner of Stockdale's net from 25-yards, registering his 150th goal in all competitions for United.
Unlike Wigan Athletic on Saturday, Fulham kept their heads up after going behind and came close to an immediate response when Bobby Zamora's flick-on found Simon Davies. His attempted volley sailed just over the angle of the post and crossbar from 20 yards.
However, United kept coming back as Javier Hernandez, who started in favour of Michael Owen, came close to scoring his first goal in the Premier League when he pounced on a Darren Fletcher pass and fired just wide from the edge of the area. He followed it up soon after with a fierce drive from Berbatov, which was foiled by a strong hand from Stockdale.
Despite the continued pressure from last season's runners-up, Fulham suddenly found themselves with a golden opportunity to equalise and Dickson Etuhu really should have.
A neat flick into the box by Clint Dempsey let the Nigerian in and his first time low shot was well saved by Edwin Van Der Sar, who then tipped the rebound over the bar for a fantastic double save.
Fulham again refused to be demoralised and an entertaining end-to-end game was materialising.
Fulham came out at the beginning of the second-half in a new set of strips due to the old set being "sweat-retaining", and as with the famous United kit change against Southampton in 1996, it immediately paid dividends as 10 minutes after the re-start Fulham were level.
Clever work on the right flank by Damien Duff found Zamora in space in the area and his smart cut-back allowed an on-rushing Simon Davies to hammer past Van der Sar for a deserved equaliser.
The Cottagers could have found themselves in front minutes later after Nemanja Vidic appeared to pull Moussa Dembele over inside the area but the referee waved away the strong penalty appeals.
As the game entered the latter stages, both teams were going all out for a win. First Nani whizzed in a Cristiano Ronaldo-esque free kick that dipped a little too late to really trouble Stockdale.
Then, down the other end, Paul Konchesky floated in a long free kick aimed at Zamora but although the England international connected with it well, he could only watch in vain as it trickled past the far post.
Zamora may have lived to regret that missed chance as just five minutes later, Ryan Giggs whipped in a corner for United and with no red shirts around him, Brede Hangeland was the victim of a nasty deflection off his knee to send the away team into the lead.
The drama wasn't over there though as just one minute later, United were given the chance to put the game to bed as Damien Duff was harshly ruled to have handled the ball inside his own area. However, Stockdale had other ideas and was more than a match for Nani's penalty attempt.
Fulham would survive to thank Stockdale, as in the 90th minute of normal time, Hangeland redeemed himself for the earlier own goal to jump high and power a header past Van der Sar to bring the west London side level for the second time and to give his team a deserved share of the spoils.
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