The game started at a slow pace as both sides were feeling their way into the tie. Andrew Johnson had an early penalty appeal turned down after Richard Dunne brought him down in the area, as the Cottagers looked the more threatening side.

However, it was the Blues who opened the scoring in the 28th minute through Stephen Ireland. The midfielder advanced toward the Fulham box unchallenged, assessed the situation and opted to have a shot at goal. The strike deflected off Dickson Etuhu's back and looped over Mark Schwarzer into the back of the net.

Dempsey provided an equalizer in the 50th minute after some sloppy play from Pablo Zabaleta. The midfielder's pass hit Bobby Zamora and found Dempsey, who hit the target to make the score 1-1.

Fulham hit the front for the first time in the match when Nigel De Jong's poor clearance was pounced on by Dickson Etuhu, who powered a shot from the edge of the box to record his first goal for the Cottagers.

The result was put beyond all doubt when Dempsey netted his brace in the 83rd minute. Micah Richards pushed up too far out of the City defense and Zamora took advantage as he slid in a pass for Dempsey, who made sure his side moved up to eighth on the Premier League table.