By Oliver Brett

Damien Duff and Erik Nevland celebrate Fulham's opening goal

Fulham recovered from a dire early spell to beat Blackburn convincingly.

The visitors dominated for 40 minutes but paid for some weak finishing when Erik Nevland exchanged passes with Damien Duff before slotting home.

That goal energised Fulham, Blackburn old boy Duff providing another assist for Clint Dempsey to finish off.

The American was on hand to complete the scoring after Simon Davies's cross found him unmarked, with Blackburn by then desperately chasing the game.

Rovers, who silenced the home fans with some slick play before losing all their composure when falling behind, had an excellent chance to score at the very start.

But youngster Franco di Santo was denied by a good Mark Schwarzer save, and with Blackburn unable to turn further pressure into clear-cut opportunities the hosts hung on grimly - before transforming the game with the opening goal just before half-time.

Duff had been cleverly recalled by Roy Hodgson to face his former club, while Nevland and John Pantsil were the two other changes from the team beaten at Birmingham last Saturday.

Blackburn, with Neil McDonald in charge as Sam Allardyce was scheduled for surgery on a coronary artery, had Brett Emerton out with a late knee injury.

606: DEBATE I am so angry that our first-half performance was desecrated by the second half showing. Where's the ambition when we go behind? And why is Di Santo always taken off? RTM08

Keith Andrews was drafted in as a replacement, while Lars Jacobsen came in for Gael Givet (thigh).

Just 80 seconds into the match, Di Santo raced onto a through-ball from Andrews, but he was denied by Schwarzer, the Fulham goalkeeper rushing out to make a fine save.

The visitors quickly settled and Andrews, together with El Hadji Diouf, frequently gave the Fulham defence problems. Brede Hangeland had to react quickly to close down Andrews after Diouf had easily evaded a challenge from Duff.

With Nevland and Jonathan Greening disappointing the home fans by letting a number of passes go astray, Blackburn continued to press.

Jason Roberts had a couple of half-chances, turning to hit a first-time shot from a David Dunn pass straight at Schwarzer before a left-footed curling effort went wide of the far post.

Then, with a 0-0 half-time scoreline looming, Fulham grabbed a goal with their first decent attacking move of the match.

Nevland broke free down the right, found support from Duff, and capitalised on the return ball as he hit a low shot past Paul Robinson's left hand. On a really good day, Robinson might have pulled off a save but it was a decent finish.

The goal appeared to drain Blackburn's spirit, as the second half revealed a shadow of the side who had caused so much threat in the first period.

Now, it was Fulham's midfield who enjoyed most of the possession, and the home supporters enjoyed watching Chris Baird turn and test Robinson from distance following a neat lay-off from Greening.

The Blackburn chances were few and far between, with a Di Santo header from distance without seriously testing Schwarzer.

Soon 20-year-old Di Santo was pulled out of the fray as he and Roberts were replaced by Nikola Kalinic and Benni McCarthy, but the two newcomers had barely got their boots dirty before Fulham grabbed a second goal.

Pantsil found Duff in plenty of space on the right, and his searching pass into the area fell kindly to Dempsey, who simply had to get his foot to the ball to steer it past Robinson.

Though 23 minutes remained for Blackburn to find two goals and a point, they only showed fleeting glimpses of their first-half form, though Pascal Chimbonda badly scuffed a chance to reduce the deficit following a McCarthy pass.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson:

"Blackburn had more of the ball in the first half and we found it difficult to come to terms with the number of times the ball was in the air.

"Saying that, they didn't really create many goal chances and we were fortunate to score with our first dominant move of the game.

"Erik Nevland is becoming vitally important for us and has that ability to score very important goals.

"The score line shows us easy winners but it was a very, very tough victory and one I'm very proud of."

Blackburn assistant coach Neil McDonald:

"You can dominate as much as you like, and we deadened the crowd as well, but the goal lifts everybody.

"If you don't put the ball in the back of the net you can make one mistake and then leave yourself with a mountain to climb.

"I spoke to Sam [Allardyce] this morning and he will be disappointed because we lost. I will tell him there was a chance to take something from the game."

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