Birmingham City responded to cancel out Fulham's opener as the two teams played out a 1-1 first half at Craven Cottage this afternoon.

Hugo Rodallega gave the home side the lead inside the first five minutes when he raced on to Lasse Christensen's pass before finishing the chance.

However, Fulham's lead was short lived, and it was David Cotterill who restored parity with a free kick.

Lloyd Dyer almost gave the visitors the lead but his header could only fly just over the bar shortly after the equaliser.

Ross McCormack, who is captaining the side in the absence of Scott Parker, went close with a header from Kostas Stafylidis but Darren Randolph was alert to save.

McCormack almost matched Cotterill with a free kick of his own on the half-hour mark, but his 35-yard effort went just wide.

Clayton Donaldson then spurned a great opportunity up the other end after going through one-on-one with Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.

Cotterill's late free kick again caused problems for Fulham, but Bettinelli was this time equal to the effort.