Fulham came from behind to leave Bolton Wanderers still searching for their first Premier League points of the season.
Alexey Smertin's heavily-deflected first-half strike ended up deciding an entertaining encounter after David Healy had cancelled out ex-Fulham striker Heidar Helguson's opener.
The rain that fell in torrents on the Craven Cottage pitch was merely typical of this sodden summer but it meant anything could happen as far as the 22 players were concerned.
Helguson was a central character in the first two goals, marking his first Bolton start in the absence of the injured Kevin Davies with an opener that is bound to be featured in future compilations of goalkeeping howlers.
Tony Warner had performed admirably at Arsenal on Saturday after first choice Antti Niemi had been injured in the warm-up but was hugely at fault as he somehow dropped a ball into Helguson's path in the 13th minute.
A bump against the huge frame of Zat Knight following Nicky Hunt's huge throw had occurred but still his slip appeared to be completely avoidable.
Helguson, who cost the Trotters £2.1million, then helped his old club equalise and again it was from a long throw.
Knight was also involved again, heading the ball into the air, and when Helguson tried to nod away he succeeded only in clashing with Abdoulaye Meite and diverting the ball towards his own goal.
Healy was on it in a flash, controlling, turning and firing past Jussi Jaaskelainen in an instant to add to his opening day strike at Arsenal - which had also been a gift from a goalkeeper.
Jaaskelainen was given no chance three minutes later when Smertin tried his luck from outside the box and saw his drive veer off Gerald Cid and into the far corner of the net.
But fortune did favour the Finn just before the break when he opted to bounce rather than grab a ball to the very edge of his box.
Brian McBride challenged and came away with the ball only for referee Lee Probert to award a free-kick to Bolton.
The first half had also featured a booking for dissent for Bolton's recalled El-Hadji Diouf, who had been sent-off in this fixture two seasons ago.
Diouf also showed what he can do with the ball straight after the restart when he whipped in a cross from the left that Nolan somehow put wide at the back post.
Warner then redeemed himself for his earlier error by pulling off an acrobatic tip-round to deny Nicolas Anelka, who had been teed up for a curling effort inside the box by Cid, who stayed up to plant a free header wide.
Diouf then sent an angled effort just wide and Anelka, who had been quiet for a while, saw Chris Baird throw himself in the way of a drive before Helguson was replaced by debutant Daniel Braaten with 18 minutes remaining.
Paul Konchesky was booked for upending Diouf with Gavin McCann heading wide from the resulting free-kick. McCann was immediately replaced by Mikel Alonso, brother of Liverpool's Xabi.
Fulham also made late changes with Diomansy Kamara and Clint Dempsey replacing Healy and Hameur Bouazza and Kamara was convinced he should have been awarded a penalty when sandwiched between Cid and Hunt in the box. Referee Probert thought otherwise however.
Bolton threw men forward as the minutes ticked away, including Jaaskelainen in injury-time, but Fulham held on to get their season off to a winning start at the second attempt.
