City held by Cottagers

Mark Hughes' Manchester City blew a two-goal lead and had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Fulham in an action-packed game at Eastlands.

Joleon Lescott and Martin Petrov put City in control by the hour mark but Roy Hodgson's men stormed back with two goals in six minutes, from Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey.

Micah Richards had a first-half effort disallowed for a foul but it could have been worse for City with Bobby Zamora and Diomansy Kamara both missing simple chances.

City went in front in the 53rd minute when Gareth Barry nudged a Craig Bellamy corner across to Emmanuel Adebayor and his weak shot was helped over the line by Lescott.

When City grabbed their second on the hour it seemed like plain sailing, Wayne Bridge feeding Petrov from the right and the midfielder curling an excellent effort past Mark Schwarzer.

But Roy Hodgson's men were far from sunk and they struck back just two minutes later when Zamora chested down a ball from Stephen Kelly and Duff shot home from the edge of the box.

A remarkable game took its further bizarre twist in the 67th minute when Dempsey fired Fulham level after finding space to meet Jonathan Greening's free-kick in the box.