London  - Blackburn Rovers climbed out of the relegation zone on Wednesday with a 2-1 win away to Fulham.

Clint Dempsey gave Fulham an early lead, but El-Hadji Diouf levelled in the second half before Jason Roberts fired a late equalizer.

Blackburn climb to sixth bottom, with Portsmouth slipping into the drop zone.

Fulham in 10th are themselves only six points above the drop zone.

Dempsey put Fulham ahead in the second minute, shrugging off Christopher Samba and slotting his finish past goalkeeper Paul Robinson.

Stephen Warnock hit the post for Blackburn 16 minutes in, and they found the equalizer with 20 minutes remaining, Diouf scoring from close range after Samba had headed Morten Gamst Pedersen's long throw across goal.

And then, with five minutes remaining came the vital goal as Roberts capitalised on Pedersen's pass to claim the winner. dpa