Sam Allardyce has been thrown a lifeline by his Blackburn Rovers team after they came back from a goal down to grab the points against Fulham.

In the first 90 seconds of the contest, Clint Dempsey controlled the ball and managed to get around defenders Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelson and knock it past Paul Robinson in goal.

It was the perfect start for the Cottagers and they almost followed up in the next six minutes but the Rovers defence held solid.

After over an hour of play it looked as though the Rovers fate for the season may have been sealed but El Hadji Diouf came to the rescue.

In the 69th minute, the Senegalese striker found himself alone after a Samba header put him through on Fulham's goal and he converted from close range.

There were calls for offside but the referee waved them away although the replay showed Diouf was three yards offside.

With five minutes remaining in normal time, there was more drama when Jason Roberts was able to turn and shoot past Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer to give Rovers an unlikely three points.