Portsmouth 1 Fulham 1:Portsmouth could not find a win to make up for Harry Redknapp's departure to Tottenham as two Fulham substitutes combined at Fratton Park for a late equaliser.
Peter Crouch had fired Pompey ahead in 61 minutes from Jermain Defoe's pass and Pompey looked to have made light of Redknapp's defection in this Barclays Premier League match.
But Fulham kept battling despite four defeats in their last five matches and Nevland, who had been on the field for only four minutes, cleverly set up Dempsey for an 87th-minute equaliser as Pompey's defenders slept.
Pompey worked hard for the breakthrough and it came just after the hour, Defoe setting up Crouch to fire home with a crisp, low drive to join his strike partner on six goals for the season.
It came after outstanding work by the non-stop Diarra, who was foiled in a solo run attempt through the middle but soon won the ball back and played in Defoe who unselfishly squared it for Crouch to score from around 12 yards.
Despite the goal, Fulham were not finished as Bullard demonstrated with another quality shot from the edge of the area which was just off target.
A smart Schwarzer stop prevented Belhadj's shot adding a second for Pompey in the 70th minute.
Fulham kept battling but with Kaboul having an outstanding game alongside stand-in skipper Sylvain Distin at the back Pompey felt confident enough, six minutes from the end, to send on sub Niko Kranjcar for his first action since ankle surgery in August
But with three minutes of normal time left two Fulham substitutes combined to further damage Pompey's day.
Clint Dempsey met Erik Nevland's cross from the right with a half-volley that flew past James — and Pompey could not find a winner, despite four minutes of stoppage-time.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)