Following our great performance at Stoke and our disappointing result at home to Norwich in the FA cup, we needed a positive result from this game at Craven Cottage. I was working in London so did not have to travel far, so you would think, but the bloody traffic was horrendous and I missed the kick off for the first time ever! Was this a bad omen? And I missed the meet with Northy, Baggie Boy Geoff, Beds and Kettering.
The Teams
West Bromwich Albion: Foster, Tamas, McAuley, Olsson, Shorey, Cox, Morrison, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Odemwingie and Fortune. Subs: Fulop, Reid, Mantom, Tchoyi, Dawson, Thorne and Allan.
Fulham: Stockdale, Kelly, Hangeland, Senderos, Riise, Davis, Murphy, Sidwell, Duff, Ruiz, Dempsey. Subs: Etheridge, Hughes, Baird, Kaasmi, Gecov, Frei, Trotta.
Kick off
Bugger, missed it. But I did ask the bloke next to me if they cheered Roy Hodgson and fair play to the Fulham faithful they gave Roy a warm welcome, which I think would have warmed him a little on a very, very cold night at Craven Cottage.
I took my seat close to the pitch and had a lovely view of the back of the camera man’s head, and the stewards trying to keep everyone from standing up – which made for some very funny comments from some of the Albion fans.
A couple of Albion fans came down to the front to complain to the stewards that they could not see because we were standing. They said they were going home and it was our fault, so we laughed at them and said “bye bye”. They sounded like cockneys – I thought it was only Man Utd that had fans in the Capital!
The game was a bit end-to-end with both teams trying to find a way through with both defences up to the task and very few chances came. it was quite hard to stay focused being so cold. I could not wait for the half time whistle. I needed a hot drink of Bovril so left before the whistle to get in the queue. What a joke that was. Chaos, sheer chaos, folks pushing, arguments, very poor facilities for the amount of people in that end of the ground. It took 20 mins to get served and back to my seat to catch the second half.
The second half
We started well and looked lively passing the ball and keeping it to build an attack with Cox laying one off for Odemwingie to fire well over – again. Fulham were on the attack but they kept hitting a brick wall in the likes of Olsson and McAuley. Riise and Duff were finding it hard to penetrate our back four; Tamas was having a good game, but for me Shorey was the weak link.
Odemwingie had a run on goal with Fortune alongside. He passed the ball a fraction too far for Fortune who had to stretch to make his shot which made it weak and forced Stockdale in to an easy save down low. Back Fulham came with Ruiz making Foster work for a change. It was a wonder he was not froze to the spot.
A lapse of concentration from Dorrans, who had been workman like all night, saw his clearance go high in to the path of Ruiz who released Dempsey to put his shot past the frozen Foster.
Twenty minutes were left and we were staring defeat in the face, unfairly, I have to say. Substitute Tchoyi came on for Cox, and in his second phase with the ball, Morrison sent an inch pass to Tchoyi who held off the challenge from Hangeland and with his right foot slammed the ball in to the net to leave Stockdale no chance. Goal…….Boing Boing…. The warmest I had been all night. A good result in the end.
On Reflection
That’s the second time I have been to Craven Cottage. Last time we lost 3-nil under RDM. We needed a result last night and, to be fair, it was the right one. I found it to be a strange night. The crowd was quiet and it was hard to concentrate because of the cold. Fulham is a friendly place with no real segregation, but they do need to improve the facilities at the ground desperately.
As for the team’s performance it was very good on a whole. Eighteen points from 26 on away trips is not bad in any one’s book, but our home form is dire and that must be addressed this Saturday when we entertain Swansea.
Keep the faith and let’s make some noise Saturday.
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