IT might well have been missing some of its leading men, but this Wanderers West End show was a flop from start to finish.

There can be precious few positives taken from yet another defeat at Craven Cottage – a venue that has rapidly become a haunted house for Wanderers in the Premier League era.

It has been 16 years since the Whites last won a league game at Fulham, so when a side already missing the injured Johan Elmander and Matty Taylor and the suspended Gary Cahill was also shorn of new loan signing Ebi Smolarek because of a family bereavement, the chances of them breaking the curse in this visit looked slim in the extreme.

Wanderers went to Fulham initially to contain. But from the word go, it was obvious they would have to come up with something far more adventurous to go home with a share of the spoils.

Roy Hodgson’s side had beaten Arsenal in their last Premier League outing three weeks ago and started this game as if the international break had never happened.

By contrast, it became quickly apparent key areas of the Wanderers side were struggling to perform, most notably in the centre of the park where Fabrice Muamba looked constantly troubled by the ankle injury he picked up on England under-21 duty and Kevin Nolan also appeared somewhat under the weather.

To make matters worse, the show was well and truly stolen by two players who had been high on Megson’s shopping list in the last few months.

Zoltan Gera, the enigmatic Hungarian, and Jimmy Bullard, who in his own words after the game had been “gagging for a game” after sitting out England’ two World Cup qualifiers, were nothing short of superb.

Missed opportunities? Perhaps. But what the Wanderers boss wouldn’t have done for such creativity and energy from his midfield.

Strangely enough, Wanderers had been giving as good as they got for the opening 10 minutes before the Cottagers’ exemplary flowing football finally clicked.

But then Bobby Zamora had a goal chalked out for leading with his elbow as he jumped for the high ball with Jussi Jaaskelainen, and that just provided the impetus for Fulham to step up in gear and, as Johnson began to run circles around his markers, there was little by way of a response from the visitors.

The opening goal arrived 14 minutes in when, after Danny Shittu had cleared Paul Konchesky’s cross to the edge of the box, Gera was there to lash it past the diving Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Fulham threatened a second immediately through Johnson but at the other end, Davies’ one-man show was threatening to re-write the script.

The Wanderers man found acres of space at the far post from Gretar Steinsson’s long punt but chipped over the crossbar with Mark Schwarzer off his line.

He then tried to repeat the trick, this time forcing the Australian keeper into a decent save as he scurried back to clear the striker’s chip from 25 yards.

It was soon business as usual, however, as Danny Murphy and Jimmy Bullard drove their side forward from the centre of the park.

The Londoners should have had a second goal sooner than they did. Gera was left cursing his luck when a goalbound shot cannoned off his own man six yards out, and Jaaskelainen made a point-blank save from Zamora.

But good things are worth waiting for, and Zamora’s sublime trick to elude Shittu and Steinsson on the edge of the area before placing a shot inside the post was one for the scrapbook.

A similar performance in the second half could easily have seen Wanderers concede a cricket score – but thankfully, they improved, and Fulham suddenly became shot-shy.

For all their possession, and at times they toyed with the Whites defenders like a cat owner teasing his moggy with a ball of yarn, they were nowhere near as incisive as they had been in the first half.

Megson’s only available option was to chase the game. He brought on Riga and Helguson – a man with a good reputation for scoring in West London – in a bid to force the issue, but, sadly, the lack of creativity did not alter with the change in personnel.

It looked as if the game was truly over when Fulham suddenly found their range again. Gera sent a header crashing against the bar and it looked a matter of time before a third goal arrived.

This show, however, had a twist. And Davies certainly deserved his luck when he climbed over Hughes to head into the bottom corner, through the legs of his team-mate Helguson.

It was much too little too late to stop Fulham registering a second win of the season, and the scoreline would have been a more fitting description of the game had Davies kept his composure late on when one-on-one with Jaaskelainen.

That would have been a fitting way to bring the curtain down on a fine Fulham performance. For Wanderers, it’s back to rehearsals.