An injury-time strike by Hal Robson-Kanu meant Fulham were forced to settle for a draw in a thrilling contest at Reading on Saturday.

Dimitar Berbatov’s late effort looked set to give Fulham the points, but substitute Robson-Kanu bundled home the equaliser in the dying seconds to ensure a share of the spoils at the Madejski Stadium.

Reading had led 1-0 at the break through Mikele Leigertwood’s screamer, but second-half goals from Bryan Ruiz (61) and Chris Baird (77) put Fulham in front, only for Garath McCleary to make it 2-2 with five minutes left.

Berbatov (88) then put Fulham back into the lead with a curling strike and that looked set to give the Whites the points. But again Reading came from behind to draw level in the last few seconds of the game through Robson-Kanu.

Martin Jol made two changes from the side that had beaten Aston Villa last time out, with Mahamadou Diarra and Damien Duff replacing Steve Sidwell and Mladen Petrić respectively. Hugo Rodallega started in attack, with Berbatov deployed in a deeper role in front of the midfield four. Ruiz returned to the substitutes’ bench after injury, but there was no place in the matchday squad for Alexander Kačaniklić. Former Fulham loan men Pavel Pogrebnyak and Nicky Shorey started for Reading.

And it was the ex-Whites pair who created the first opening of the game in the eighth minute. After Sascha Riether had half-cleared a Jason Roberts cross, Shorey picked up the loose ball and his clipped centre was nodded inches wide of the far post by Pogrebnyak from five yards out.

Fulham, for their part, were playing some neat, passing football. Inevitably, the main focus of their attack was Berbatov and it was the Bulgarian who had the Whites’ first effort on 16 minutes, but his long-range strike flew over the target. Diarra then let fly on 26 minutes, with his drive from distance going well over the bar after Duff’s corner had only been cleared as far as the Mali international.

Two minutes later, Reading were in front. Jobi McAnuff cut in from the left and played the ball across to the onrushing Leigertwood, who smashed a right-footed shot into the top left-hand corner of Mark Schwarzer’s goal from 25 yards out. It was a fine strike, but Fulham will have been disappointed not to have picked up the late run of the Reading man free.

Fulham’s best chance of the opening half came in the 37th minute. Duff wriggled into space on the right and floated a cross into the box. It was inch-perfect for Rodallega but the Colombian sent his header straight at Alex McCarthy from the edge of the six-yard box.

With two minutes of the half remaining, Duff met a Kieran Richardson cross but saw his shot go wide of the near post and proceedings then came to a close from an opening 45 minutes in which Fulham had failed to really get into gear.

Reading made the early running in the second half and Pogrebnyak couldn’t make proper contact with a Jimmy Kebe cross after Schwarzer had failed to get fingertips on the delivery. Schwarzer then had to be alert to save at the feet of Roberts after the striker had bundled his way into the box.

Jol responded to Reading’s early second-half dominance by replacing Rodallega with Ruiz on 58 minutes, a move which saw Berbatov pushed further upfield. The switch made almost immediate dividends with Ruiz hauling Fulham level with an absolute belter on 61. The Costa Rican collected Duff’s pass on the edge of the area and hit a superb left-footed drive past a stranded McCarthy to claim his first goal of the season.

Fulham had the bit between their teeth now. McCarthy did well to deal with a dangerous Riether cross, before Berbatov twisted and turned but fired into the side-netting. Jol made his second change on 68 minutes, replacing Duff with Ashkan Dejagah.

Against the run of play, Reading fashioned a chance through Kebe, whose curler from just outside the box was saved by Schwarzer, with the Australian gratefully pouncing on the loose ball.

At the other end, Baird saw an effort before deflected just wide. But from the resulting corner in the 77th minute, the Fulham man met Ruiz’s near-post delivery to flick his header past McCarthy for his second goal in as many weeks. The Northern Irishman injured himself in the process as he slipped upon landing and was substituted for Sidwell.

Fulham, however, couldn’t hold onto their lead and with five minutes to go, the Royals were level when McAnuff’s cross was slotted home from close range by substitute McCleary.

The action wasn’t over though. Sidwell fed Berbatov just inside the box and the striker curled a superb shot past McCarthy and into the far corner.

But again Fulham couldn’t hold on and when the Whites conceded a free-kick on the edge of the area, Robson-Kanu was quickest to react to Shorey’s delivery and prod home the equaliser.