BOLTON - Roy Hodgson claimed his first point as Fulham manager after a dogged display but his men remain in deep relegation trouble with just two wins from 23 Premier League outings.
The former Internazionale, Blackburn, Switzerland and Finland head coach replaced Lawrie Sanchez last month with a simple brief from owner Mohamed Al Fayed to save the Cottages from the drop.
But Hodgson, 60, arrived at the Reebok stadium having presided over a disastrous run of three straight league defeats and a humiliating FA Cup exit at the hands of League one side Bristol Rovers.
However, Fulham were well worth their point against Bolton and encouragingly for Hodgson, new signings Brede Hangeland and Leon Andreasen made impressive debuts: 90 minutes.
And with strikers Eddie Johnson and Erik Nevland poised to join up with Hodgson's squad, the Londoners now at least have hope they can preserve the top-flight status gained under Frenchman Jean Tigana in 2001.
Norway defender Hangeland joined the Cottagers from Danish champions FC Copenhagen earlier this month and replaced the suspended Dejan Stefanovic in central defence.
Denmark international Andreasen arrived last week from German side Werder Bremen and started in midfield alongside Jimmy Bullard, who made his first Premier League start since recovering from a knee operation.
Bolton duo Gretar Steinsson and Matt Taylor were handed home debuts as Gary Megson's side pursued a victory that would lift them nine points above second-bottom Fulham.
The towering Hangeland cut an imposing figure at the heart of the Cottagers defence alongside Aaron Hughes.
He dominated Bolton's lone striker Kevin Davies and impressed with some crisp passing.
With eight minutes played, Hangeland strode out of defence and found the influential Danny Murphy in the centre of midfield.
The former Liverpool midfielder clipped a delightful pass behind Bolton's defence for Clint Dempsey. The American beat the offside trap and steadied himself before striking a disappointing left-foot shot wide of Jussi Jaaskelainen's right-hand post from 16 yards.
But midway through the half Bolton fashioned two clear chances of their own.
First, Icelandic defender Steinsson produced an acrobatic volley which flew just over the crossbar before Danny Guthrie hit a low diagonal shot wide from 12 yards.
Shortly before the half-hour mark, Davis played in Joey O'Brien and his low shot was saved by Niemi.
A dangerous cross from the left by Kevin Nolan then caused panic in the visiting defence but Fulham cleared the danger to ensure a goalless first half.
Bolton brought on Tamir Cohen for O'Brien at the break and the hosts quickly showed a marked improvement on their miserable first-half display.
Shortly before the hour mark, Steinsson showed impressive pace and no little skill to reach the right-hand byline and whip in a vicious low cross.
The ball reached Nolan and his clever back-heeled flick found Matt Taylor at the far post.
Taylor stretched but could only scuff the ball wide as Fulham breathed again.
Bolton continued to probe, however, and in the 65th minute Niemi again proved to be alert to a curling free-kick from Guthrie.
Surprisingly, Guthrie was replaced moments later, taken off in place of Iranian midfielder Andranik Teymourian.
Within a minute of his arrival Andranik swung in a deep free-kick which Niemi failed to deal with.
His weak punch fell to Lubomir Michalik 16 yards from goal but the young Slovakian defender's first-time volley said agonisingly wide of Niemi's empty net.
Genuine goalscoring opportunities remained scarce as Fulham held on for a heard-earned - and potentially priceless -point.
