With this being another local away game for the three Sussex Baggies, we were not about to pass up the opportunity to watch Albion in action. Despite it being a midweek fixture, we arrived in Putney in good time to wander round briefly before making our way to the ground.
We arrived outside the ground at about 5.30pm, meaning that we had an hour to wait before the ground was eventually opened. The team coach turning up just before the gates opened also gave us an opportunity to try and guess the starting line-up and after not seeing Scott Carson get off the coach, I was quietly hopeful that Boaz Myhill may have finally been given a chance in goal.
Team
With our back four decimated by injury, Roberto Di Matteo was forced to play 18-year-old James Hurst at right-back, with Gianni Zuiverloon and Gonzalo Jara being played at centre-back and Marek Cech at left-back, in what must have been one of the shortest back four in Premier League history!
The rest of the team remained unchanged after a very encouraging performance in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United, with Carson continuing in goal despite his apparent absence from the squad as they left the coach.
First half
The first half was very evenly-contested by two sides who are beginning to feel the pressure of being stuck at the wrong end of the table. However, it was Fulham who created the first opening of the game, with former Albion player Diomansy Kamara seeing a low shot on the turn from a tight angle saved by Carson.
Despite being up against several very lively attacking players, our make-shift back four did very little wrong for much of the first half. Zuiverloon and Jara both won plenty of headers, and Hurst was probably the stand-out performer thanks to several crunching challenges in the opening 20 minutes or so.
Our best chance of the half fell to Jerome Thomas, who latched onto a fine through-ball from Chris Brunt, only to see his tame effort comfortably saved by David Stockdale in the Fulham goal.
For all our possession, our attacking players still seemed to lack the sharpness and conviction in front of goal which had served them so well earlier in the season. This was despite playing against a Fulham side who had only won one of their last ten games, and were probably feeling under a lot of pressure going into this game.
It looked as though we would reach half-time with a very credible draw, until one minute into injury-time. The goal was scored by Simon Davies, whose shot from 30 yards appeared to go through the hands of Carson in an error of the same magnitude as the one he made for England against Croatia just over three years ago.
The look on Carson’s face said all that needed to be said, but it would have been no consolation to the back four who had been superb up until that stage, despite the loss of Marek Cech after he appeared to be stamped on by John Paintsil, and certainly not to the travelling Albion supporters who had been in superb voice throughout the first half.
Second half
I was still confident at the start of the second half that we were capable of getting something from this game, as we had comfortably contained Fulham for much of the first half and had looked the more likely side to go ahead.
However, the confidence of the whole team had obviously taken a knock after seeing their captain and goalkeeper make such a poor error just before half-time and Fulham began to control the game.
It was therefore no surprise when they doubled their lead after 55 minutes. Clint Dempsey was the scorer, as he sent a free header from inside the six-yard box straight down the middle of the goal, only for Carson to flap at it and fail to keep it out. The main issue with this goal was allowing somebody a free header from a set-piece, but Carson was once again at fault for failing to make what should have been a routine save.
Almost every player allowed their head to drop after the second goal, with Hurst being the only one to continue playing with any sense of pride and commitment throughout the second half.
This alone, however, would not be enough to prevent the inevitable, as Fulham increased their lead further after 65 minutes. The goal was scored by Brede Hangeland, who sent a free header from six yards out straight down the middle of the goal and through Carson’s legs. As with the second goal, it is difficult to establish which error was worse; allowing the tallest player on the pitch a free header in our penalty area, or Carson’s decision to stay rooted to his line yet again.
The game began to peter out at this stage, as we continued to enjoy a fair share of possession, but were unable to force Stockdale into any meaningful action. The closest we came to a goal was through Hurst, who saw his powerful left-foot shot from the edge of the area after cutting inside blocked by the head of Danny Murphy, just as it seemed to have the beating of Stockdale.
However, this was as good as it got in the second half for Albion, as we missed a valuable opportunity to try and pull ourselves away from the relegation zone and back towards mid-table.
On reflection
On reflection, the main emotions at the end of this game were disappointment and anger. The disappointment was the fact that we had managed to be comprehensively beaten by a side who are no better than ourselves, mainly due to the errors of Carson.
The anger from myself was towards Carson and, in a way, Di Matteo for continuing to select him, even though we have a very experienced and capable second-choice goalkeeper in Myhill sitting on the bench every week. I still think Di Matteo has done a very good job here, but he needs to realise that Carson is going to cost us a lot of points between now and the end of the season if he continues to start every game.
The only positive to come out of the game is the performance of Hurst at right-back. Despite the game being his first in the Premier League, he was our stand-out performer on a night where nobody else played anywhere near well enough. I would expect him to get another run-out at Reading in the FA Cup and if he does well there, I don’t see why he can’t be considered for the Blackpool game a week later.
I would like to finish with praise for the travelling Albion supporters, who were singing non-stop last night and made it a superb atmosphere to be a part of, despite the poor result and performance. If we are to stay up, we all need to keep the faith in Di Matteo and what he is trying to achieve here, and I’m sure we will start picking up points again soon.
Boing Boing!