The last time these two managers faced each other across the dugouts, David Healy’s goal marked the zenith of Lawrie Sanchez’s Northern Ireland tenure and the nadir of Sven-Göran Eriksson’s England reign. Yesterday evening’s clash may have had a slightly less momentous hue, but events in Belfast two years ago this month can hardly have been more thrilling than these 90 minutes as, for the second consecutive league game, the Craven Cottage faithful saw six goals, equally shared.

Eriksson’s rolling revolution meant that only three of those who started this fixture in April were in City’s starting lineup yesterday. Yet some things remained the same: never one to let personal indiscretions stand in the way of a career, Eriksson gave Stephen Ireland a new contract in midweek and recalled him to the right side of midfield after the young midfielder had pretended his grandmothers had died in order to flee the Republic of Ireland squad.

Fulham, too, have made their changes since April, but Sanchez’s changes have not run so deep, nor transformed the very DNA of an underachieving club and, as chairman Mohamed Al Fayed doubtless noted, they kicked off in 17th, one place lower than last season’s finish. Little wonder then that Sanchez elected to redeploy Healy, his lucky charm but Eriksson’s nemesis.

Five minutes in, though, Healy’s good fortune was out when he ran on to Simon Davies’s punt forward and bore down on Kasper Schmeichel’s goal. Richard Dunne seemed to have been outpaced but just when all hope appeared lost, just as Healy was poised to pull the trigger, Dunne wrapped his magnificent tree-trunk of a leg around the striker and whipped the ball off the startled striker’s toes.

From there, as if on a far-from-successful blind date, both teams eyed each other warily, although Antti Niemi did well to cling on to Elano’s wobbling drive. Nevertheless, after 13 minutes Fulham maintained their record of scoring in every game this season and this time Dunne could be less pleased with his contribution.

Steven Davis carried the ball deep into City territory before finding Hameur Bouazza, who was given time and space by Vedran Corluka to pick his spot from the touchline. The Algeria international picked well, crossing for Davies to sneak in ahead of a slumbering Dunne to head past Schmeichel. From there, Eriksson’s strategy of playing the mercurial Emile Mpenza as a lone striker began to look flawed, but they did create a golden chance in the 25th minute when Corluka crossed to the back post. There he found Martin Petrov, who, granted the freedom of the home penalty area, blazed wildly over.

Eleven minutes later, the Bulgar had a second opportunity. This time the footballing gods came to his aid after he collected Michael Johnson’s crossfield pass and cut in from the left. First, Chris Baird backed off rather than make a tackle. Then, Petrov’s shot sped through Aaron Hughes’s legs before squirming through the unsighted Niemi’s grasp to gift him his maiden City strike.

Sanchez introduced Diomansy Kamara for the second period and played him alongside Healy. The substitute’s first contribution was to surge forwards, only to be felled by Dunne on the edge of the penalty area. Kamara shaped to take the subsequent free kick, but instead left it for Bouazza to launch a thunderous, unstoppable bolt of lightning past Schmeichel.

Fulham, though, seem to have hands coated in grease when it come to holding on to a lead and within a minute City were level again. This time, Mpenza leapt to head down into Petrov’s path. As Baird had been reluctant to challenge for City’s first, so was Carlos Bocanegra for their second. Even so, Petrov’s low shot was hardly as unstoppable as Bouazza’s, but Niemi merely parried. The ball spun into the air and Mpenza headed into the unguarded goal.

In what was now a scintillating contest, Fulham’s Bocanegra and Kamara went close, but City nudged themselves in front on the hour. This time, Ireland found Petrov, who played a delicious one-two with Elano before again outpacing Baird and again outfoxing Niemi with a drive that went to the goalkeeper’s near post as the Finn dived for the far one.

Then Fulham levelled, sending Craven Cottage into frenzied rapture. Niemi’s huge punt forwards was headed on by one substitute Seol Ki-Hyeon. Another substitute tried and failed to make contact, inadvertently leaving space for a third, Danny Murphy to run on and fire past Schmeichel. Breathtaking.

Star man: Elano (Manchester City)

Player ratings: Fulham: Niemi 4, Baird 4, Hughes 5, Bocanegra 4, Konchesky 6, Davis 7, Davies 7 (Kamara ht), Smertin 5, Bouazza 7 (Ki-Hyeon 67), Dempsey 5, Healy 5 (Murphy 67)

Manchester City:Schmeichel 6, Corluka 6, Richards 6, Dunne 6, Garrido 6, Ireland 7 (Sun Jihai 83), Hamann 7, Johnson 7, Petrov 7, Elano 7 (Geovanni 80), Mpenza 6 (Bianchi 80)