Fulham ride their luck as an Iwobi double sees them confound Brighton

Floodlights in the rain at a damp and windy Craven Cottage (Picture: @YTJourno)

Fulham (1) 3 Iwobi 3, 87 O'Reilly og 79

Brighton (0) 1 Baleba 54

It turns out the atrocious coastal conditions did not suit this group of seagulls after all.

In a game in which they often looked second best, the Whites found a way to secure all three points - a double from Alex Iwobi sending Albion packing.

The Whites were gifted an early goal but few could have expected such an outcome as they often chased shadows after that and a Brighton equaliser seemed a likely prelude to victory for the visitors.

The script writers had other ideas as two late goals got Fulham over the line - hoisting them up to sixth in the Premier League table in the process.

Maybe it was meant to be as they seem to have the Indian sign over a Brighton side they have now not lost to in nine encounters.

It's never too early for Christmas gifts and Brighton were as obliging guests as you could hope for in the opening minutes.

Maybe playing against Southampton last week had rubbed off in a bad way on Brighton, whose attempt to pass out from the back mirrored the suicidal way the Saints go about it - Bart Verbruggen's casual stray pass was picked off inside the area by Iwobi, who exacted punishment in full.

It was the Nigerian's fourth goal of the season and a fifth would follow.

Albion quickly recovered some poise and Joao Pedro outsprinted last man Calvin Bassey to test Bernd Leno with an angled drive. The German also had to be sharp to prevent Simon Adingra turning home a low cross from Kaoru Mitoma. Moments later, a fearsome Pervis Estupinian shot did not miss by much.

Brighton were looking the better side but had to wait for the start of the second half to draw level and they did so in style.

Jon Paul Van-Hecke, who had just planted a header onto the roof of the net from a corner, swung a ball into the right channel that Pedro deftly touched into space for the onrushing Carlos Baleba - and the Cameroon midfielder's unerring first-time shot with the left peg zipped beyond Leno.

No-one could argue that it hadn't been coming.

Nothing about the evening suggested the Whites were about to replicate their dominance at Spurs on Sunday and one of their brightest sparks Reiss Nelson was forced off with a hamstring strain to compound the feeling it was not going to be Fulham's night.

Emile Smith Rowe struggled to get into the game with some poor first touches on the rare occasions he had the ball. It was no surprise when he was hooked for Andreas Pereira.

The boos that greeted the midfielder's arrival told him he has work to do to win fans over following recent comments he had made about wanting away, but he made a good start in that respect by curling in a wicked corner to the near post that bounced in off Matt O'Reilly to make it 2-1.

And Iwobi - his name being chanted with reverence in the Hammy End by the end - won space on the edge of the box to drill a low shot past Verbruggen to crown a fine, unexpected finale.

They will feel in better spirits now going into Sunday's clash with Arsenal back at the Cottage.

Whites: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Castagne, Diop, Bassey, Robinson - Berge (Cuenca 91), Wilson (King 80) - Iwobi, Smith Rowe (Pereira 71), Nelson (Traore 71) - Muniz (Jimenez 80)

Seagulls: (3-4-2-1) Verbruggen - van Hecke (Lamptey 72), Dunk, Igor Julio - Wieffer (Gruda 87), O'Riley (Rutter 81), Baleba, Estupinian - Adingra (Minteh 81), Mitoma - Joao Pedro (Ferguson 81)

Attendance: 26,368