A draw and a sense of déjà vu in South Africa and South London yesterday afternoon. While England faced up to a familiar foe, Fulham were elated then deflated, as usual. This was the seventh time this season that they have led and failed to win.

Four draws and three defeats from winning positions adds up to 17 points frittered. Had Fulham defended impeccably when holding the advantage they would be level with Arsenal, who beat them on the season’s opening day despite Fulham leading for 83 minutes. “It’s becoming a bit of a cliché,” Lawrie Sanchez, the Fulham manager, said. “Same old story. But Blackburn are an excellent side. If we can be where they are in three years, I’ll be delighted.”

Sanchez’s team have moved up to twelfth, only three places behind Blackburn, but yesterday’s opponents are ten points better off.

Call it growing pains. “We don’t hang on - we are at that stage of our development,” Sanchez said. “Once we get over that ‘ten minutes to go’ scenario we’ll be all right. We’re the toughest side to beat in the bottom half. But England can’t hold on for 13 minutes – that’s football. It has been decent sides who’ve scored late goals against us.” Still, Fulham do not lack invention. “We’re going to point our way to safety,” Sanchez said.

Mark Hughes, the Blackburn manager, was satisfied with a draw, given the situation up front. Roque Santa Cruz was rested after returning late from international duty with Paraguay and Benni McCarthy fell awkwardly in a challenge with Dejan Stefanovic soon after the start and came off with a gashed leg.

Blackburn’s leading scorer was replaced by Jason Roberts, playing his first game for two months after injury. It was not a fruitful partnership with David Bentley in the first half, with Bentley’s only contribution a dive in the penalty area. He was booked for clipping one foot behind the other as if auditioning for Riverdance.

The tone for a more entertaining though barely more competent second half was set four minutes after the restart when Ryan Nelsen felled Diomansy Kamara with a tackle from behind and Danny Murphy was perfect from the penalty spot for Fulham.

The contest was still about who would prove to be not the best team but the least-worst. After 53 minutes, Morten Gamst Pedersen headed high and wide when free six yards out, but Blackburn would wait only three more minutes to score.

Bentley surged on the counter attack and fed the impressive Stephen Warnock down the left. His deep cross was headed on faintly by Roberts and dropped for Brett Emerton to finish neatly at the far post. Roberts was clearly offside, which irked Sanchez: “We don’t get decisions. My weekly letter will be off tomorrow to Keith [Hackett, general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the referees’ governing body].”

Fulham reclaimed the lead after 63 minutes. This time the officials got a marginal offside decision correct. Simon Davies crossed for Kamara, who had been in an offside position but not directly interfering moments before Davies’s perfect pass provided the forward with an easy goal.

“In days gone by that’s a stonewall offside,” Hughes said. “These days it’s an interpretation, it’s difficult to say whether it’s correct or not.” Sanchez disagreed, of course. “So called specialists,” he said, “they say they don’t know the rules but they certainly do.”

After 77 minutes, Shefki Kuqi, a substitute, intercepted Tugay Kerimoglu’s weak back-pass, rounded Brad Friedel and hit the side netting from a tight angle. A crucial miss because two minutes later Roberts shook off three defenders to cross for Warnock, unmarked at the far post, to equalise.

Infamous for ten minutes: Fulham’s curse. “We’re ten minutes away from being very good,” Sanchez said. “It’s a combination of things – not knowing how to win, we have a lot of players new to the Premier League and we’ve brought a new team in, it takes time.”

Despite the unhappy endings, Sanchez sees a good-news story – one that captures the bittersweet ambition levels at smaller Premier League clubs. “We’re twelfth,” he said. “Eight teams are worse than us.”