Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion settled for a point apiece under the Cottage lights on Wednesday evening.
Scott Parker made one change from the side that was denied victory against defending champions Liverpool three days ago at Craven Cottage. Mario Lemina, a tireless cog in the centre of the Fulham midfield, was replaced in the starting XI by Harrison Reed.
After the electric atmosphere that had been experienced on Sunday, it was somewhat sombre as the referee got the match under way at an empty Craven Cottage.
The lack of fans may have played a role in what was a stagnant opening 10 minutes. Brighton, contented to slow the tempo of the match, direct in nature and stifling when it came to looking to break down any Fulham advances.
The lack of any goal threat from either side bled through into the opening 20 minutes, the only action of note taking place in the 15th minute, a comfortable save from distance for Alphonse Areola.
The stalemate continued and Fulham remained nullified by a rigid and regimented Seagulls outfit. The usually potent left flank of Antonee Robinson and Ademola Lookman silenced by speed down the right side of the opposition defence. It appeared a moment of brilliance would be the key that unlocked the defence.
In the 35th minute Bobby De Cordova-Reid stayed down after taking a knee to the back of his leg. After a minute of treatment he was up and back in the fray.
Our first effort on target came about in the 43rd minute. After some tidy work down the wing, Ivan Cavaleiro picked up the ball on the edge of the opposition box. After taking a touch to steady the ball, the Portuguese attacker unleashed a fizzing drive which was parried behind for a corner.
A half of football to erase quickly from the memory banks, with neither side able to carve any opening of merit.
As the teams came out for the second half the temperature continued to plummet on what was a chilly night in South-West London.
In the second minute of the second half it took an excellent double save from Areola to keep the scores level. A dangerous in-swinging corner was met by the head of Lewis Dunk from close range. With very little time to react the Frenchman parried the shot and on the follow up smothered the second attempt.
In the 49th minute Adam Lallana thought he had opened the scoring for the visitors. A cross which was clearly handled by Danny Welbeck in the build-up fell to the English midfielder to guide it in from six yards out. After a few minutes of deliberation, VAR came to our rescue and the goal was ruled out.
Moments later VAR was called into action once again. A cheeky header over the Brighton back line was latched upon by Lookman. After appearing to beat his man and working his way deeper into the box, the explosive winger was denied by a last-ditch tackle from Dunk. The referee waved away the protests and, after consulting VAR, it was deemed a fair tackle.
In the 60th minute it was the crossbar which came to our aid, not VAR. Another lethal corner was swung right into the danger zone and thundered off the bar by Adam Webster. The powerful header cannoned off the woodwork and dropped just in front of the line, before being cleared.
In the 68th minute we came close to taking the lead. Ruben Loftus-Cheek bulldozed his man just inside the opposition half and turned up field to open grass. With the defence scrambling back to catch up, the midfielder saw his low shot well saved by Robert Sanchez.
In the 77th minute Parker played his final roll of the dice, inserting Mitro after using his earlier substitutions to introduce Lemina and Aboubakar Kamara.
The change came to no avail and aside from a chance falling to Lookman inside the final 10 minutes, the match played out with no further incident. With the point we clamber out of the bottom three, going ahead of Burnley on goal difference.
Fulham: Areola; Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo; De Cordova-Reid (Kamara 62'), Anguissa, Reed (Lemina 62'), Robinson; Loftus-Cheek (Mitrović 77'), Cavaleiro, Lookman (Bryan 88’)
Brighton: Sanchez; Lamptey (Veltman 78'), White, Webster, Dunk, March; Bissouma, Trossard (Jahanbakhsh 79'), Alzate, Lallana (Gross 85'); Welbeck