London rivals Fulham and Chelsea shared a point apiece in a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage on Monday.
The visitors had ambitions of moving level on points with fourth placed Tottenham, and took the lead after 45 minutes when Frank Lampard converted what looked like a soft penalty after a foul by Stephen Kelly on Salomon Kalou.
However, Clint Dempsey equalised for the Cottagers with eight minutes remaining to salvage a point for Martin Jol’s side.
Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo remained upbeat despite missing out on the chance to claw back Spurs’ advantage.
“I thought we were in control of the game and maybe we didn’t pose enough of a threat for the second goal,” he told Sky Sports.
“But we were always in a leading position and the only way they could have scored was from a set-play and unfortunately for us they did.
“But we are still in there, we are hanging in there and we knew Craven Cottage was a tough place to come and we are getting closer to the teams ahead of us,” he continued.
Mark Clattenburg’s award of Chelsea’s penalty was dubious, but Di Matteo believed that it was a fair decision; he also praised Frank Lampard, whose goal made him the first midfielder to score 150 times in the Premier League.
“Come on, there was a touch on him [Kalou] from Kelly for the penalty.
“The record just shows what a tremendous player that Frank has been for Chelsea Football Club all these years, and he continues to do so and we are very happy he is in our team,” the trainer concluded.
By Gareth McKnight
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