Mark Hughes has never been under the illusion that gate-crashing the established elite of English football would be easy, but the Manchester City manager was given an uncomfortable reminder yesterday of how hard it may be.

By discarding a two-goal lead with all the recklessness of a drunk, Hughes’s team spurned the opportunity to move into the top four of the Barclays Premier League as Fulham exposed the defensive deficiencies that may prove to be City’s Achilles’ heel this season.

Take nothing away from Fulham, who thoroughly deserved their point and, but for one of the misses of the season from an otherwise praiseworthy Bobby Zamora, might have taken more from this absorbing encounter. But as formidable as City can be going forward, they have a distinctly fragile look at the back.

Hughes spent £38 million reshaping his central defence in the summer, but on afternoons such as this, the City manager must wish he had succeeded in his bold attempt to sign John Terry.

Indeed, it would have been hard to envisage the Chelsea and England captain being given quite such a torrid time by Clint Dempsey and Zamora as Joleon Lescott and Kolo Touré were. As Hughes conceded, City should have seen out the game comfortably after Martin Petrov put the home team 2-0 up on the hour, but while Fulham’s refusal to concede defeat spoke wonders for the character of Roy Hodgson’s team, they were given a helping hand.

Fulham’s first owed much to a lapse in concentration, coming as it did just two minutes after Petrov had ridden Jonathan Greening’s challenge to fire home and seemingly put City on course for victory.

Stephen Kelly’s cross was not dealt with, allowing Zamora to chest the ball down for Damien Duff, who, with all and sundry backing off him, had acres of space in which to stroke his shot low across Shay Given.

Of the meagre eight away victories Fulham have mustered in the past four seasons in the Premier League, three of them have come against City, so it was perhaps not the greatest surprise to see them equalise in the 68th minute. Nor was it a shock to see the goal come from a set-piece, given that City have been particularly susceptible from them this season.

Hughes attempted to explain away the manner in which Dempsey leapt above Lescott to guide home Greening’s hopeful free kick as an affliction that has affected many of the teams in the top half this season, but he may not be so forgiving when he watches it again.

In fairness, Hughes did recognise that set-pieces are an area that City need to work on defensively, having been undone in similar circumstances against Manchester United and Aston Villa. Despite starting the season with four successive clean sheets, they have conceded in each of their past seven games, which explains in part why they have managed to take only six points from the past 15.

“We know there are always areas and elements of our game that we need to focus on,” Hughes said. “We haven’t really dealt with balls into our box. We needed to do better in terms of the positioning of our personnel.”

As much as Lescott does not look like a £24 million defender, he does retain a knack of scoring and was on hand to claim his first for City shortly after the restart. Craig Bellamy’s corner was bundled down to Emmanuel Adebayor by Gareth Barry, with Lescott ensuring that the Togo striker’s goal-bound effort crossed the line.

Chances had been plentiful beforehand for both teams, but there was no doubting to whom the best opportunity fell. When Dempsey’s shot was spilt by Given into Zamora’s path in the 47th minute, a goal seemed certain. All the striker needed to do was prod the ball into an empty net from four yards, but somehow he contrived to balloon it over the bar.

What should have been a lead quickly turned into a deficit and Fulham were left to chase the game.

“It was a horrific miss, but that’s a pity,” Hodgson said. “Unfortunately, people who watch the match on TV will see the miss, but they won’t see the other 96 minutes and 45 seconds in which Bobby was absolutely magnificent for us.”

Manchester City (4-4-2): S Given 6 - M Richards 5, K Touré 5 (sub: V Kompany, 90min), J Lescott 4, W Bridge 6 - C Bellamy 6, N de Jong 6 (sub: S Ireland, 73), G Barry 6, M Petrov 7 (sub: S Wright-Phillips 5, 67) - C Tévez 6, E Adebayor 6. Substitutes not used: S Taylor, M Johnson, Sylvinho, V Weiss.

Fulham (4-4-2): M Schwarzer 7 - J Paintsil 6, A Hughes 6, B Hangeland 7, S Kelly 7 - D Duff 7, C Baird 6, J Greening 7, C Dempsey 8 - R Zamora 6, D Kamara 6 (sub: Seol Ki Hyeon, 90). Substitutes not used: P Zuberbühler, Z Gera, B H Riise, E Nevland, E Johnson, C Smalling.

Referee: K Friend Attendance: 44,906