Hodgson happy with Duff contribution

Duff, who was making his third appearance for the club after arriving from Newcastle, struck the winner with a powerful drive to send Roy Hodgson's men 10th in the table after their first win since the opening weekend of the Barclays Premier League season.

"It was a wonderful goal and he played well throughout the game," Hodgson said. "His crossing was good and it was nice to cap his second home game with a goal. It's important when you move clubs to show the fans immediately what you can do."

Victory did not look likely at half-time when the visitors led through Tim Cahill's header - but Fulham upped their tempo after the break and levelled when Paul Konchesky's shot deflected in off Sylvain Distin.

Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy said: "We just kept going and worked hard. The first half was very even but I thought we played with a better tempo in the second half, scoring two good goals.

"It's nice to get another win under our belts, especially at the Cottage.

"It gives us a bit of breathing space and we can look forward with confidence instead of thinking we need a win."

There was an unsavoury incident just after the hour mark when Dickson Etuhu clattered into Phil Neville and left the Everton captain with a gash on his left knee. Etuhu appeared to catch Neville with his studs as he followed through on a tackle.

"It was a bad miss for the referee to miss that," said Everton boss David Moyes. "In the football we play now it doesn't go on and I thought it warranted a free-kick and a yellow card.

"Phil has got a gash on his knee but he is not going to hospital. We will assess it later."