Fulham - 1 Charlton Athletic - 0 A fifth defeat in seven league games leaves Charlton one place off the bottom of the Premiership, but of all their recent setbacks this at least provided reason for optimism as a spirited second half failed by the narrowest of margins to rescue a draw, and only a decidedly dodgy defensive opening cost them a chance of victory.

It took less than two minutes for Fulham first to expose the visitors' rearguard, and it was not to be the last time as Charlton's defence was opened regularly. In the end it was the man they call The Wolf who decided the game and took Fulham up to fifth in the league, introducing the celebration with which he made his name as Argentina's comedic answer to Paul Gascoigne.

In the 36th minute, Steed Malbranque shot low and hard from the edge of the area, Dean Kiely in the Charlton goal pushed the ball away and Facundo Sava lashed in the rebound from six yards.

The Argentinian forward immediately started rummaging in his sock, eventually producing a small face-mask. The celebration was received so eagerly by fans in his native country that they sent in their own masks for him to use - a total of over 250 had arrived by the time he left in the summer.

"I want to start the tradition again," he said. "Apart from this one I left them all back in Argentina, so if fans start sending me more I will not mind."

Sava's mask of Zorro could not, however, mask the sorrow of an away performance that had until then been bright but never truly threatening, although Edwin van der Sar in the home goal tried his best to cheer Charlton as the first half drew to a close.

With the ball in his hands and under no pressure, the Dutch goalkeeper calmly rolled it straight to John Robinson. The midfielder passed inside to Shaun Bartlett, got the ball back and by the time either decided to shoot the grateful goalkeeper was able to block.

Jason Euell had offered Charlton's best hope of a breakthrough, and his willingness to run with the ball unsettled the home defence, though his ability to "self-create", in his manager's words, produced little more than a shot dragged across the face of the goal in the sixth minute.

But as the game progressed the visitors attacked with increasing ferocity, and in a second half they dominated enough to have deserved a draw.

"There was no passing, no movement, only the long ball," said the Fulham manager, Jean Tigana, of his side's performance. "It was very difficult today and we were very lucky to win."

Their luck somehow held, with Bartlett managing to hit both bar and post within two second-half minutes. With seven minutes remaining Euell found him unmarked in the area but the shot struck the crossbar, and then the South African headed against a post from John Jensen's resulting corner.

Charlton boss Alan Curbishley, however, insists that despite a dispiriting sequence of results, including League Cup elimination at the hands of Oxford last week, his side's future could yet be bright.

"Of the three years we've been in the Premiership this is the year I've felt most confidence," he said. "We have a good enough squad to compete in this league and we've got just over 30 games to prove it."

FULHAM: Van der Sar, Ouaddou, Knight, Melville, Brevett, Legwinski, Davis (Wome 67), Malbranque, Boa Morte (Inamoto 64), Marlet, Sava (Hayles 74). Subs Not Used: Taylor, Collins. Booked: Brevett. Goals: Sava 36.

CHARLTON: Kiely, Young (Johansson 83), Rufus, Fish, Powell, Robinson, Mustoe, Jensen, Konchesky (Lisbie 66), Euell, Bartlett. Subs Not Used: Rachubka, Kishishev, Fortune. Booked: Rufus, Euell.

Referee: J Winter (Cleveland).