Tosin's first salvages a point in thrilling summit showdown with Cherries

Fulham (0) 1 Tosin 84

Bournemouth (0) 1 Solanke 46

A first goal in Fulham colours for Tosin Adarabioyo rescued a point for Fulham in a Friday night thriller at the Cottage.

In a summit battle which lived up to its billing in every way, the Whites had by far the better of the chances and ought to have edged it.

But they trailed soon after the restart to a stunning goal from Dominic Solanke, and in the end, they were just grateful to deny visitors Bournemouth the three points which would have sent them to the top of the Championship at Fulham’s expense.

For 24-year-old Tosin it was a moment to savour but he was simply intent on restarting the game as quickly as possible as the Whites went in search of a winner.

It was a bitter-sweet evening for former Whites boss Scott Parker. Now in charge of the Cherries, having defected at the end of last season. He got a mixed reception from home fans to say the least. Plenty of boos were aimed in his direction.

It all added spice to a feisty affair which mixed quality with grit. Both teams tried to win it. Both teams were intent on leaving a marker, even if the result was never likely to settle much this early in the season.

What we did see, though, was reasons why these two sides are just a point apart at the top and head and shoulders above the rest at the moment in the race to regain Premier League status.

A blistering start set the tone.

We saw Adam Smith fire low at Marek Rodek after being set up by former Brentford man Emiliano Marcondes, then Neeskens Kebano wrong-footed two defenders before bearing down on goal and almost beating Mark Travers with a near-post strike.

And the on-fire winger was soon unleashing another effort towards the same corner of the net – Travers again hurried into making a good save.

Kebano was outstanding. All that was missing was a goal. He gave right-back Jack Stacey a serious examination and eventually induced a rash tackle and a yellow card for his marker from ref Tim Robinson, who also earlier booked Lewis Cook for a high follow-through on Kebano.

But there was a tit-for-tat feel to proceedings and Solanke flashed a header just off target in one of the next attacks from the visitors before going close with another raking low shot after a neat drop of the shoulder to create space inside the box.

Meanwhile, the battle between Aleksandar Mitrovic and former Chelsea warhorse Gary Cahill offered up a riveting sub-plot.

The Bournemouth defender is much loved in parts of west London, but not at the Cottage, where he is still, above all, a symbol of their bitter local rivals.

The half ended with an astonishing double block with face and body from Cherries skipper Steve Cook, who effectively took two for the team in blocking from Mitrovic and the follow up from Fabio Carvalho.

Needless to say, Kebano was involved in that double-chance, freeing Mitrovic into space in the inside-left channel.

A spiky atmosphere throughout – both on and off the pitch - brought out the beast in Marco Silva. The Whites boss earned a yellow card for protesting a little too much about some decisions not going his side’s way.

His mood did not improve when his players were caught cold straight from the restart. Philip Billing’s perfectly-weighted chip to the box was met by a full-striding Solanke, who got ahead of Denis Odoi to fire past Rodak. Four passes and less than 15 seconds was all it took.

Briefly stunned Fulham may have been, but Kebano was soon testing Travers again and Harry Wlson was only just off target with fine shot from outside the box.

Then Mitrovic nearly exacted revenge on the Cherries for Adam Smith’s off-the ball foul on Wilson – heading the subsequent free-kick inches over.

The Serb also got on the end of a nicely flighted ball from Tom Cairney – on as a sub for the final quarter. But a stooping header proved too easy for Travers.

It felt as if a goal just would not come, in spite of the excellence of the build-up play. Cairney’s clever pass gave Kebano yet another pot at goal which the infernal Bournemouth keeper again kept out. A great leap to his right to thwart a Mitrovic header only added to that feeling.

But no. With just seven to go, Cairney floated a ball to the back stick and there was Tosin to glance home into the bottom corner. The calmness of the Fulham midfielder had again helped save the day.

Whites: (4-2-3-1) Rodak – Odoi, Tosin, Ream, Bryan – Seri (Cairney 70), Reed – Wilson, Carvalho (Decordova-Reid 70), Kebano – Mitrovic. Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Tete, Hector, Muniz, Onomah

Cherries: (3-5-2) Travers – A Smith (Mepham 88), Cahill, S Cook – Stacey, Marcondes (Pearson 56), L Cook, Billing, Anthony (Brady 88) – Christie, Solanke. Subs not used: Nyland, Lowe, Kilkenny, Rogers

Attendance: 19,020