FOR ONCE, no late drama to enliven a Leicester match - and therefore less damage to the nerves of players and supporters alike, not to mention those of Peter Taylor.
The Leicester manager seems to have almost been laying the ground for his own dismissal with the doom-laden nature of his public comments. But, once again, he lived to fight another day.
And, on the evidence of the way Leicester recovered from a shaky start, Taylor deserved nothing less. By the finish it was the blue shirts who were carrying the fight to Fulham having decided that this promoted team were not about to do to them what Bolton did.
But did Fulham show some pity for Taylor's plight? Surely not but, in their first attack, they certainly had their opponents twisting and turning in their own penalty area, desperate to get something in the way of the ball as it diverted from left to right.
Louis Saha had begun the scramble with a smart ball across but Steve Marlet, making his first start since a £11.5 million transfer from Lyon, failed to add the crucial touch when he should have made the hosts pay.
Some features of Leicester's first-half performance were pure farce. In the fifth minute Muzzy Izzet and Callum Davidson ran into each other, inviting Marlet to surge towards their back line. Shortly after, Ian Walker miskicked wildly and Lee Marshall then compounded the error as he attempted to steer the ball back to his goalkeeper only to concede a corner. Watching in increasing discomfort on the touchline, Taylor's fuse grew steadily shorter.
You could understand why his defenders were feeling the pressure. So swift were Jean Tigana's attackers in covering the ground - with and without the ball - that they could not afford to relax for a moment.
Frank Sinclair's ball-watching ability had resulted in that late defeat against Middlesbrough on Monday, and his poor header on the half-hour nearly helped Fulham take the lead. Sinclair's attempt to clear provided Lee Clark with the chance to half-volley back towards goal and, although Walker was behind it, he was unable to make a clean grasp, the ball flying from his gloves and off Sinclair's back and then, finally, to safety.
Nobody could fault Leicester for effort, with Robbie Savage covering a vast acreage in midfield as he strived to win his team some meaningful possession. Behind him, team-mates were never reluctant to throw themselves in the way of the ball whenever danger loomed.
No better example was provided by Gary Rowett, who had just replaced the forlorn Sinclair, and who got across in the nick of time just as John Collins threatened to capitalise on a short pass from Luis Boa Morte. And, within 60 seconds of almost falling behind courtesy of Sinclair's gaffe, Leicester should have scored themselves only for Dean Sturridge to finish poorly in front of goal.
Taylor obviously worked hard at the interval as Leicester showed much more positive intent after the break and began to make the Fulham rearguard, in which Zat Knight showed remarkable, if at times risky, composure on his League debut, earn their money. Nevertheless Fulham certainly always needed watching, with Marlet coming close with an acrobatic overhead.
Sean Davis took hold of a delicate lofted pass from Clark but pulled his finish into the side-netting. Leicester responded with a smart piece of improvisation which almost saw Edwin van der Sar caught out as Izzet, with the outside of his boot, made skilful use of Stewart's pass.
Tigana had replaced Boa Morte at half-time with Sylvain Legwinski and later took off the substitute in favour of yet another Frenchman, Steed Malbranque.
Sometimes Saha took on too many defenders and allowed Fulham's momentum to slow, so encouraging the home supporters to believe that it would be their team who would end up going home with the points.
But, in the end, they, like their west London counterparts, had to make do with a point.
Source Sunday Telegraph by Trevor Haylett