Soccer

Fulham fail to fight free of bottom three as Shane Long levels late

Cottagers surrendered two-goal lead against hull, Aston Villa beaten heavily again

Hull City’s Shane Long (right) and Fulham’s Johnny Heitinga (left) battle for possession. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Hull City’s Shane Long (right) and Fulham’s Johnny Heitinga (left) battle for possession. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Sat Apr 26 2014 - 17:17

Relegation-battlers Fulham blew a two-goal lead as Hull fought back to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage.

Felix Magath’s side were well on course to give their survival hopes a huge boost for what would have been a third win in the past four matches, before a late rally from the FA Cup finalists.

Following a nervous first half, Iran midfielder Ashkan Dejagah (55) curled the ball in from the edge of the penalty area and before the visitors could respond, defender Fernando Amorebieta (58) headed in Kieran Richardson’s cross to give the Cottagers belief.

However, Nikica Jelavic set up an anxious finish when he nodded in a scrambled effort with 15 minutes left and as the clocked ticked down, Hull snatched a dramatic equaliser through Shane Long (87).

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Saido Berahino’s first-half goal, on 11 minutes, proved enough to give West Brom what could be a crucial victory in their own survival bid with a 1-0 win over West Ham at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies are five clear of trouble, on 36 points with three matches left, while West Ham sit 14th on 37 points with two games to play.

A superb 50-yard strike from Jonjo Shelvey helped Swansea beat Aston Villa 4-1 at the Liberty Stadium to close in on Premier League survival.

Wilfried Bony slotted in his 14th league goal of the season to put the hosts ahead on 10 minutes, only for Gabriel Agbonlahor (22) to level from close range from Marc Albrighton’s cross.

However, former Liverpool midfielder Shelvey (26) quickly made it 2-1 when he took down a clearance and, from the centre-circle, sent a looping volley back up over Brad Guzan to net a late contender for goal of the season.

Pablo Hernandez (73) wrapped things up in the second half, having been set up by good work from Shelvey, with Bony rolling in a stoppage-time penalty.

Gary Monk’s side are 12th, with 39 points and two matches left, while Villa are still looking over their shoulders, now just four points clear.

Tottenham recorded a 1-0 win at 10-man Stoke as they looked to make the most of Everton’s defeat away to Southampton in the battle for European places.

Danny Rose headed in on 33 minutes after good work from Emmanuel Adebayor.

Stoke’s hopes of getting back into the game suffered a blow when, in the 52nd minute, Ryan Shawcross collected a second yellow card and was sent off by referee Andre Marriner for a studs-up challenge on Rose. In Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, Everton saw their hopes of finishing in the Champions League places suffer a potentially fatal blow when they went down 2-0 at Southampton through a brace of comedy own goals.

Antolin Alcaraz headed a cross from Rickie Lambert past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard after just 54 seconds. It got worse for the Toffees — a point behind Arsenal, who host Newcastle on Monday night — when on 31 minutes Seamus Coleman also turned the ball into his own net. Southampton are in eighth place, having equalled their best ever Premier League tally of 52 points.