Rockbottom Fulham welcomed another newly-relegated side in Cardiff City to Craven Cottage searching for their first league win after four straight losses to start the season.
They weren't able to earn a maximum, but did register their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw before the two-week international break.
Find out how today's match unfolded with Sports Mole's minute-by-minute updates below.
2.32pmAfternoon all! Our feature 3pm kickoff in the Championship sees two newly-relegated sides meet at Craven Cottage. Just under half an hour until kickoff, let's get to the teams...
2.33pmFULHAM XI: Bettinelli; Voser, Burn, Bodurov, Stafylidis; David, Hoogland, Parker, Hyndman; Woodrow, McCormack
2.34pmFULHAM SUBS: Kiraly, Hutchinson, Eisfeld, Roberts, Dembele, Chihi, R.Williams
2.36pmThat's five changes for Fulham from last week's 5-1 drubbing at Derby County. Bettinelli, Voser, Burn, David and Hyndman all come in. New signing Gabor Kiraly is the goalkeeper on the bench. Surprising to see bright youngster Patrick Roberts dropped.
2.38pmCARDIFF XI: Marshall; Brayford, Fabio, Connolly, Morrison; Dikgacoi, Daehli, Pilkington, Whittingham; Jones, Le Fondre
2.39pmCARDIFF SUBS: Moore, Cala, Ralls, Adeyemi, Macheda, Guerra, Eikrem
2.41pmOle Gunnar Solskjaer, meanwhile, makes four changes to his Cardiff lineup from last week's late defeat at Wolves. Brayford, Dikgacoi, Daehli and Jones are those that return.
2.43pmBoth sides were also in action in midweek in the second round of the Capital One Cup. Fulham earned their first win of the season by beating Brentford, while Cardiff came out on top in a five-goal game against Port Vale.
2.45pmAfter his big-money move from Leeds United this summer, Ross McCormack finally scored his first goal for the Cottagers in the Cup win over Brentford. Felix Magath will be hoping he can find the net again today and fire them to a first win in the league. If Fulham suffer a fifth straight Championship defeat, will Magath be sacked? Owner Shahid Khan has insisted this week that Magath is the "ideal" man to lead the West London club back to the Premier League. Hmmm.
2.47pmAnother man to score this week was Federico Macheda for Cardiff. The former Manchester United man netted two in the win over Port Vale, but doesn't get the start today, with Kenwyne Jones and Adam Le Fondre up front for the Welsh side.
2.47pmAnother man to score this week was Federico Macheda for Cardiff. The former Manchester United man netted two in the win over Port Vale, but doesn't get the start today, with Kenwyne Jones and Adam Le Fondre up front for the Welsh side.
2.48pmArty black-and-white shot from the social media team at Craven Cottage:
The boys are out and warming up on the Cottage pitch. Not long until kick-off now. #FFC #LondonsOriginal pic.twitter.com/wop7JmwdWx
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2014
2.50pmPREDICTION TIME! I sat down with Barney Corkhill on the Sports Mole Sofa earlier this week to quickly preview this match and went for a 1-1 draw. Watch the video on YouTube below:
2.54pmThe last time these two sides met was last season in the Premier League and Cardiff won both games 3-1 and 2-1.
2.58pmThe two sides are now on the pitch as "I love you baby" is belted out over the Tannoy system at Craven Cottage.
0 minKICKOFF! The referee today is James Adcock and he gets things underway in the capital.
3 minSHOT! Parker was passed fit for today's game and after scoring from outside the box at Derby last week, he almost makes it two in two league games. He charged forward from midfield before unleashing a low shot that fizzed just wide of Marshall's right-hand post. Encouraging start for the men in white.
7 minAs mentioned below, McCormack broke his Fulham duck in midweek and he's almost got his first in the league. The Scot curled a first-time effort from the edge of the area a yard or so wide of the goal.
7 minAfter netting his first goal in the Cup a few days ago, McCormack looks hungry to break his duck in the league. He's just come close to the opener with a first-time effort that curled a couple of yards wide.
9 minMake sure that you're keeping an eye on the live scores box to the right of this commentary for all the latest goals. Or open this link in a new tab for our full live scores page.
11 minCool defending in the Fulham box by Stafylidis, who collected the ball inside his own six-yard box and calmly dragged back to get away from Le Fondre before hoofing clear.
14 minAlthough Cardiff have had more of the ball early on, Fulham's two strikes from Parker and McCormack are the closest that either side has come.
17 minSilly foul to concede by Fulham to the left of the box. Whittingham takes the free kick, but it's overhit and doesn't come to anything.
19 minHere was Parker leading out the hosts a little earlier. The veteran midfielder has probably been Fulham's best player so far.
Scott Parker leads the team out at Craven Cottage. Come On You Whites! #FFC #LondonsOriginal pic.twitter.com/xXmgCsbeey
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2014
22 minGOAL! FULHAM 1-0 CARDIFF (HOOGLAND)
22 minMidway through the first half and the home side strike through Hoogland, who nets his second goal of the season. Parker picked out McCormack on the left wing and Hoogland stooped to meet his teammate's cross and flick past Marshall into the far corner.
24 minYou have to say that on the balance of play so far, Fulham probably deserve to be in front. This must surely be the best that they've played so far this season.
27 minFulham are on fire at the moment! The crowd are right behind them and it wouldn't be surprising to see them net a second the way the game is going at the moment. They certainly don't look like a winless side at the moment.
28 minOFF THE POST! That would be some way to score your first goal at home for your new club! McCormack's fizzed corner comes off the near post and Marshall wouldn't have stopped it had it been on target. Whether he meant it, only he will tell you.
30 minGreat shot of Hoogland heading home the opener:
MATCH PHOTO: Tim Hoogland heads home from a Ross McCormack cross to give #FFC the lead. @backpageimages pic.twitter.com/VkhosBnXl3
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2014
32 minWhere has this football been so far this season?! Fulham ping the ball around beautifully on the edge of the box before Hyndman blazes a shot well over the top.
35 minStoppage in play after Dikgacoi rattled David with a heavy, heavy challenge. It looks like the Fulham man, who has been very impressive so far, should be able to continue.
37 minCardiff are incensed after David draws a foul off Fabio that most definitely was not a free kick. The ball was way gone and he just threw himself to the ground. Free kick to the hosts on the right edge of the box...
37 minDavid steps up and tries to shoot from the angle, blasting it miles high and wide. Not good.
39 minExcellent defending from Fulham summer signing Bodurov, who used his superior strength to ensure that Daehli wasn't able to win a corner or get into the box.
39 minFulham win another free kick just outside the Cardiff box and again David steps up to shoot. It's a better effort this time, but still doesn't trouble Marshall between the sticks.
41 minWhere has this Fulham confidence come from?! More intricate play around the Cardiff box, but this time they can't create a shooting opportunity as Marshall rushes out to snaffle the ball at the feet of Woodrow.
44 minSolskjaer will be desperate to get his players in and give them a talking-to after being completely outplayed here. They're fortunate to just be one down in all honesty.
45 minBetter from the Bluebirds there, though, with Brayford and Daehli linking up well down the right. However, the cross into the middle was straight to Hoogland's feet.
45+1 minJust after one minute of added time is signalled by the fourth official, Kenwyne Jones shoots from outside the box. It's a poor effort from the Welsh side's top scorer this season and doesn't test Bettinelli, who is yet to be called into action.
45+2 minHALF-TIME: FULHAM 1-0 CARDIFF
3.51pmThe hosts lead by one at the break then and they fully deserve it. It looks as if that Cup win in midweek has done Fulham the world of good - they've been excellent.
3.54pmTim Hoogland scored the goal, his second of the season, by heading home a McCormack cross. Here he is celebrating:
MATCH PHOTO: Tim Hoogland celebrates his goal in front of the Cottage. #FFC @backpageimages pic.twitter.com/grJJ6PvfSM
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2014
3.58pmHoogland's first goal in a Fulham shirt came on the opening weekend of the season when the Cottagers lost 2-1 at Ipswich Town. That was three weeks ago and Fulham looked like a side who didn't know each other. Now they look much more together and you'd expect them to start climbing up the table.
4.01pmIf you're only just joining us and want a quick recap on the first half, check out our half-time report by clicking here.
4.03pmWe also have half-time reports for all games in the Premier League and Championship which can be found here.
4.04pmWe'll never know if Felix Magath's job was in jeopardy heading into today's game, but he surely won't be sacked if they can play as well in the second half as they did in the first. Teams now back out for the second half.
46 minKICKOFF! We're back underway in West London, no changes from either manager at the break.
47 minBy the way, Fulham are set to climb off the bottom of the table if they can see through this win. Check out the latest 'as it stands' table here.
49 minStrong, driving run through the middle by McCormack before his shot at goal from 20 yards is deflected wide. The summer signing is appearing all over the park today and certainly is starting to look more like himself.
50 minUp the other end Jones gets up to win a flick-on but can't quite nod it into the path of Le Fondre.
52 minCHANCE! Fulham almost double their lead as Parker shoots with his left foot and is denied by Marshall. The ball falls back to Parker and he finds Woodrow, whose shot on the turn is well over.
55 minGOAL! FULHAM 1-1 CARDIFF (JONES)
55 minThe visitors' first shot on target is a goal as Daehli slips the ball into the path of Jones, whose low shot goes through the legs of Bettinelli and into the net.
57 minThat's Jones's fourth goal of the season, he's certainly enjoying life in the Championship.
60 minSUBS: Both managers make their first changes of the afternoon, with Adil Chihi replacing Woodrow for the hosts and Joe Ralls coming on for Dikgacoi for Cardiff.
62 minDaehli drives into the box from the right wing before being tackled by Hoogland, who had to get there before the Dane pulled the trigger. Cardiff now well on top and how Fulham deal with this adversity will be huge. They were excellent in the first half, but could only score once and now they've paid the price.
64 minGreat turnout from the travelling Bluebirds.
Official Attendance at Craven Cottage this afternoon: 17,508 Our thanks to the 3,000+ fans who have travelled to support us today!
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) August 30, 2014
66 minMcCormack wants a penalty after Morrison took the ball off him in the area. He says it was handball, but the referee and linesman don't agree.
67 minNeat footwork from Chihi on the edge of the area before McCormack takes over and looks to curl into the far corner, but shoots too centrally and it's an easy save for Marshall.
70 minCARDIFF SUB: An expected change from Solskjaer as he takes off Le Fondre, who has had a quiet afternoon, for Macheda. Remember, the Italian bagged a brace in midweek so is in form.
72 minInto the final 20 minutes and it's really tough to say who looks more like scoring the third goal. Fulham have done well since conceding, but Cardiff also look dangerous on the counter-attack.
75 minFULHAM SUB: Magath makes his second change, taking off the bright David for Moussa Dembele.
76 minCLOSE! Stafylidis collects the ball on the left wing and looks to cross into the middle. He gets it wrong though and ball heads for goal, where Marshall has to scramble across to hang onto the ball.
79 minDaehli, who set up the equaliser, has probably been Cardiff's brightest player. Here he is battling for possession earlier:
© Getty Images
© Getty Images82 minSUBS: Obviously Daehli is then taken off just after I praise him! Magnus Wolff Eikrem replaces him. Fulham also make their last change - Thomas Eisfeld on for Scott Parker, who as always put in a tireless display.
84 minRisky goalkeeping from Marshall as he rushes out to beat Dembele to the ball, but he did get there first to clear the danger. Will we see a winner at the Cottage?
85 minBy the way, there's still not been a yellow card this afternoon.
87 minRalls tries his luck from 25 yards, but shoots straight at Bettinelli from the inside-left channel.
90 minBOOKING! The first yellow card comes right on 90 minutes as Hoogland is cautioned for tugging back Macheda.
90+1 minFour minutes have been added on and Fulham have a corner after Hoogland's shot is deflected over the top.
90+2 minCHANCE! What a gaffe! Chihi's initial corner is cleared straight back to him, but his second delivery is better and fellow substitute Eisfeld is unmarked but gets his header all wrong.
90+4 minCardiff win a late corner and Morrison gets up to meet it but heads well over. That should be that.
90+5 minFULL-TIME: FULHAM 1-1 CARDIFF
4.56pmA first point of the season then for Fulham, but they'll be disappointed not to have got all three.
4.58pmOne positive for Fulham is that they're no longer at the foot of the table. That point sees them move up one place to 23rd, with Blackpool suffering their fifth straight defeat against Millwall. Bolton are the other side still winless after they lost at Leeds.
5pmWe now have a two-week international break in the Championship. When league footy returns, Fulham travel to Reading on September 13, while Cardiff take on the other relegated side by hosting Norwich City.
5.02pmAnyway, that's all we've got time for on this commentary. Keep it Sports Mole for all the match reports, reaction and more throughout the evening!
