Fulham 3-2 QPR

         

  Marquee January signing Christopher Samba gifted the Cottagers their first two goals, bringing down Ashkan Dejagah to allow Dimitar Berbatov to net an eighth-minute penalty.Berbatov stepped up to take the resulting penalty and nonchalantly sent Cesar the wrong way to give Fulham an eighth-minute advantage.Things got worse soon after when Samba lost possession of the ball on the edge of his own box, allowing Berbatov to coolly slot home past Julio Cesar.Samba was caught out by the evergreen Duff, whose hassling saw the ball end up at Berbatov's feet, allowing him to burst into the box before finishing with aplomb.Chants of "going down" echoed around Craven Cottage when Clint Hill put a John Arne Riise cross into his goal, but QPR rallied and launched the unlikeliest of comebacks.Fulham fans were quick to goad their rivals, before a wayward Bobby Zamora strike saw the target of their ire aimed at their former striker.Adel Taarabt, who stormed out at half-time of last season's Craven Cottage encounter, reduced the deficit on the stroke of half-time before Loic Remy netted moments after seeing a penalty saved by Mark Schwarzer.Remy and Andros Townsend saw strikes deflect behind as QPR pushed for a response, with the latter also seeing a fierce drive go inches wide.The veteran Australian had to be at his best for the rest of the match and, despite Steve Sidwell's late sending off, Fulham held on, condemning QPR to a potentially season-defining defeat.Hangeland, showing the skill and poise not normally associated with a centre-back, directed a deft backheel into the path of Riise, whose driven cross was deflected home by Hill.The hosts started brightest and, after early warning shots from Riise and Damien Duff, Samba thought he had thwarted Berbatov with a decent tackle inside the box.Remy saw a shot deflect just wide 10 seconds in and, after a strike was blocked by Hangeland, had a chance from the penalty spot in the 49th minute.However, the Rs defender had not accounted for Dejagah latching onto the loose ball and his late challenge on the winger saw referee Lee Probert point to the spot.