Blackburn Rovers clawed their way out of the Premier League relegation zone when they won 2-1 at Fulham with a late winner from Jason Roberts on Wednesday.

Roberts secured three vital points for Rovers and sent Fulham sliding to their third home defeat in a week when he scored the winner five minutes from time, out muscling Tony Kallio to power a shot past Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer.

Fulham went ahead in the second minute when Clint Dempsey latched on to Danny Murphy's header and got the better of Ryan Nelsen to score.

Blackburn equalised after 69 minutes when El-Hadji Diouf, their recent signing from Sunderland, scored with a tap-in at the far post.

The result left Fulham in 10th place and Blackburn climbed three places to 15th.

Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion fill the relegation places.