Fulham 1-1 Sheff Wed: Scott Malone earns late point for Cottagers

Scott Malone scored an injury-time leveller to earn Fulham a 1-1 draw after Fernando Forestieri's fine strike appeared to have earned Sheffield Wednesday victory.

Former Watford forward Forestieri produced a classy finish early on and it looked like the Owls had produced the perfect response to two straight defeats. But left-back Malone popped up in stoppage time to give Fulham an unlikely point.

Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal had restored Forestieri to his starting XI having left him on the bench for the 2-1 home defeat by Ipswich just before the international break.

The Italian responded in the best way possible as he took just 10 minutes to find the net, his fourth of the campaign, in style with a finish from 15 yards after rapid movement from Barry Bannan and Gary Hooper.

Fulham had beaten Huddersfield 5-0 in their last game at Craven Cottage and immediately threatened an equaliser. Lucas Piazon's free-kick was deflected wide and from the resulting Tom Cairney corner, Kevin McDonald headed over the bar unmarked with the goal at his mercy.

Wednesday's speed in attack continued to cause the hosts problems with Tomas Kalas' weak back header letting in Ross Wallace but David Button was alive to the danger.

Bannan then went close with a powerful drive from Hooper's pull back while at the other end, Stefan Johansen had penalty appeals waved away after going down under a challenge from Jack Hunt.

Fulham had a half chance when Sone Aluko's deflected shot nearly caught out Wednesday keeper Kieren Westwood.

Wednesday continued to create chances with Hooper running onto Westwood's long kick and going one-on-one with Button before firing wide. Forestieri also then drilled wide from the edge of the area after taking the ball off his own team-mate Wallace.

Fulham started on the front foot after the break with Aluko heading just over from Cairney's cross. But they found it difficult to break down a well-drilled Wednesday defence despite bringing on Floyd Ayite from the bench.

Steven Fletcher come on as sub for the visitors and came close to getting a second when he was not quite able to convert from Bannan's free-kick. Hunt came to Wednesday's rescue to deny Ayite from Denis Odoi's cross before Cairney could then only shoot straight at Westwood from a good position.

Ayite then shot wide from Aluko's cross while Scott Parker also missed the target, but Fulham lacked much in the way of clear-cut opportunities. However, they rescued a point in the first minute of added time as Ayite flicked on from Aluko's cross before Malone slammed home on the half-volley.

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic:

"It was a fair result, we played very well and I'm really satisfied with some parts of the game. We did not surrender in any moment. They played the better football and closer to three points.

"If we had played this game last year we would have lost 3-0. We did not offer our best performance but it was a small step where we are learning to compete."

Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal:

"We performed very well. Their team are in good shape, had won the last game 5-0 here and were in good momentum. We scored one goal and probably should have killed the game.

"We expected Fulham to press in the second half. In counter-attack we could have killed the game. We are not happy with the scoreline, we deserved more. We felt we achieved one point but lost two."