Manchester City 2-2 Fulham match report: The Daily Mirror verdict

For all the lavish spending by their billionaire Arab owners, Manchester City proved with this result they remain very much a work in progress.

Having started the season with four clean sheets, City have now conceded goals in their last seven games and lurched to a third successive draw yesterday after blowing a 2-0 lead.

Mark Hughes has spent almost £60million on his defence but it remains the most vulnerable area of his squad, as City's undoubted attacking threat was once again undermined by their fragility at the back.

It could have been even worse for Hughes and his players, had Fulham's Bobby Zamora not applied a slapstick finish to the open goal he was presented with just after the break, ballooning the ball over from just six yards out.

While it would be churlish to talk of a crisis at City, with them currently in sixth place, there is no doubt Hughes must address his side's propensity for defensive suicide if they are to achieve their stated aim of breaking into the top four.

An emphatic win over Arsenal and an undeserved defeat at Manchester United suggested City were the real deal under Hughes, but their last three results - draws against Aston Villa, Wigan and Fulham - have provided a sobering reality check for their expectant fans.

Hughes is known to have major concerns over his side's repeated inability to deal with crosses and set-pieces, yet having identified the defenders himself and been given the financial clout to buy them, his own judgment has to be called into question.

Joleon Lescott looked anything but a £24m player, ditto the £16m Kolo Toure, and with Micah Richards and Wayne Bridge also unconvincing, expect new defensive personnel to arrive in January.

Fulham arrived at Eastlands for their third game in six days and it showed in their sluggish first-half display, content to let City lay siege to their goal with a succession of goalscoring opportunities.

Yet for all their impressive build-up play, much of it generated by the typically industrious Carlos Tevez, City were unable to apply the killer finishing touch when in front of the target.

Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer displayed superb athleticism and reflexes to keep out a Nigel De Jong shot in the 24th minute, the start of what was to become a familiar pattern in the opening 45 minutes.

Damien Duff came to Fulham's rescue five minutes before the break, heading Tevez's looping goal-bound cross off the line to thwart the rampant home side yet again.

When City did manage to put the ball in Fulham's net, a minute later courtesy of a Micah Richards header, the effort was ruled out by referee Kevin Friend for a foul by Barry.

It amounted to a frustrating first-half for City, who should have put the game beyond doubt by the break, such was their superiority. But Fulham held on and should have taken the lead a minute into the second-half, but for a shocking miss from Bobby Zamora from just six yards out with City's goal at his mercy.

When Clint Dempsey's shot was saved by Shay Given, Zamora was presented with the simplest of tap-ins. But inexplicably the striker sliced his effort way over the bar, prompting ridicule from City's fans and dismay from Fulham's meagre travelling support.

Schwarzer produced another fine save to divert a thunderous Wayne Bridge shot in the 52nd minute, but he was unable to perform similar heroics two minutes later when City took the lead with an ugly, scrambled goal.

Craig Bellamy's corner was headed down by Barry and diverted towards the Fulham goal by Emmanuel Adebayor. And, in the ensuing goalmouth melee, Joleon Lescott trundled the ball over the line.

City doubled their lead on the hour, Petrov and Barry combining well with the former picking his spot and finding the back of the net with an elegant left-foot shot. That should have been the platform for City to stage the win that would have taken them up to fourth and endorsed their credentials as genuine contenders for a Champions League spot.

But when Zamora chested the ball down for Duff to drill the ball past Given two minutes later, Fulham sensed there was a way back and City's old failings returned to haunt them.

There was an inevitability about the equaliser and it duly came in the 67th minute, Dempsey out-jumping Lescott to meet Jonathan Greening's free-kick and send his header beyond the reach of Given.

It meant the end of City's 100 per cent record at home this season and the derisive boos at the final whistle served as a timely reminder to Hughes that, with expectations now higher than ever at Eastlands, many more results like this will not be tolerated.

Man City: Given 7, Richards 5, Toure 5 (Kompany 90), Lescott 5, Bridge 5, Bellamy 6, De Jong 7 (Ireland 73, 5), Barry 6, Petrov 7 (Wright-Phillips 67, 5), Adebayor 5, Tevez 6.

Fulham: Schwarzer 7, Paintsil 5, Hughes 6, Hangeland 7, Kelly 6, Duff 7, Greening 6, Baird 6, Dempsey 7, Zamora 5, Kamara 6 (Seol 90).