The hosts fell behind to Seol Ki-Hyeon’s header after eight minutes, but hit back with a stunning Geovanni equaliser half way through the first half.

Then with nine minutes remaining, Craig Fagan pick-pocketed Paul Konchesky and set up Folan to secure the points.

Fulham, who won their last three away games of last season to stay up, created the first opportunity after Seol out-sprinted Michael Turner on the left, but Simon Davies was unable to convert the cross.

Then Hull powered forward and came desperately close to taking the lead.

Richard Garcia headed Andy Dawson’s left flank centre across goal, but debutant Mark Schwarzer produced a superb save to claw away Geovanni’s goalbound header. Schwarzer then recovered well to scramble clear Ian Ashbee’s follow-up.

However, Fulham took advantage of some poor defending to open the scoring.

Jimmy Bullard was given plenty of time to cross from the right wing, and Seol burst into the penalty area to beat Bo Myhill with an angled header into the bottom left corner.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Hull, and Davies came close to adding a second when his drive from 15 yards deflected over the bar.

From the resulting corner, Bullard’s delivery was fired just over by John Pantsil, and from another corner moments later, Davies’ acrobatic volley flew just wide as Fulham began to dominate.

However, out of nowhere, Hull levelled the score with a magnificent strike from Geovanni.

The Brazilian, who joined from Manchester City on a free transfer in the summer, cut inside from the right flank and curled a tremendous left-footed shot into the left corner from 20 yards.

Hull were gaining confidence on the ball, and Nick Barmby came close with a header following a deep Sam Ricketts cross late on in the half.

Zoltan Gera wasted an excellent opportunity within two minutes of the restart when he beat the offside trap, but scuffed the ball harmlessly wide from 10 yards.

Hull responded though, and Turner headed Dawson’s corner a yard over the crossbar.

Geovanni then missed a glorious chance to give the home side the lead when he sliced wide from six yards after latching onto Barmby’s cross.

It was Barmby’s last contribution as he was replaced by Peter Halmosi.

Fulham, who had offered little in attack since the break, suddenly woke up, and George Boateng had to be alert to block a shot from Bullard.

However, Hull continued to look the more likely to score, and Garcia forced Schwarzer into a fine low save after good work by Halmosi on the left.

Hull boss Phil Brown then used up all of his remaining substitutions, bringing on Folan and Fagan for Marlon King and Garcia respectively.

Two of the replacements then combined to give Hull the lead.

Fagan robbed the hesitant Konchesky near the byline, and unselfishly squared for Folan to slide the ball into an empty net.

In the closing stages Hull found themselves down to 10 men after Boateng hobbled off injured.

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson introduced Leon Andreasen and Erik Nevland, but the hosts survived a nervous five minutes of added time to claim the points.