A blog of two halves

Where would we be without Mitrovic?

The home match against Watford kicked off at 12.30pm and anyone arriving two minutes late will have missed another early goal gifted by the Fulham defence.

24 September 2018
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Aleksandar Mitrovic. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

The home match against Watford kicked off at 12.30pm and anyone arriving two minutes late will have missed another early goal gifted by the Fulham defence.

Zonal marking took on a new meaning as Alfie Mawson, Calum Chambers and Timothy Fosu-Mensah, grouping around Watford's Will Hughes, allowed him to target an unmarked Andre Gray.

Luciano Vietto squandered a chance to equalise, but the visitors, prompted by Etienne Capoue, dominated the first half with their superb passing.

Bettinelli frustrated Deeney, Christian Kabasele's free header was blocked by Ryan Sessegnon and Gray should have scored again after a foolish back-header by Mawson.

Just like the previous match against Manchester City, Fulham were fortunate not to be three goals down at half-time.

This time they were luckier still because Fosu-Mensah's wild lunge at Deeney went unseen by the referee. (The Watford striker subsequently accepted the Dutch player's apology.)

After the interval. Mawson and Kevin McDonald were replaced by Floyd Ayite and Denis Odoi, and we saw a marked improvement.

Aleksandar Mitrovic came close with two promising headers, but his eventual goal resulted from a low cross from the industrious Vietto.

The Serb was now on fire, and nearly won the match with yet another fierce header that Foster just managed to keep out.

On their second half showing Fulham deserved their point against highly placed Watford, but boss Slavisa Jokanovic must sort out his defence.

I heard someone ask after the match: "Where would we be without Mitrovic?"

That's an easy one – still in the Championship.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

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Morgan Phillips

Morgan is our Fulham FC blogger.

Born in Fulham in 1939 Morgan has lived in the district ever since. His parents (both Fulham supporters) took him to Craven Cottage in 1948 and he was immediately smitten, though it was not until the mid-1960s that he became interested in the club's history.

Articles in the supporters' magazine Cottage Pie were followed in 1976 by Morgan's publication of the first complete history 'Fulham We Love You'.

In the 1980s he wrote occasional articles for the reconstituted Cottage Pie under his own name and under the pseudonym Henry Dubb.

As public interest grew in football history, Morgan compiled 'From St Andrew's to Craven Cottage' (2007) describing the evolution of a church team into a professional organisation with its own stadium.

This led to regular articles in Hammersmith & Fulham Council's h&f news and then to a blog on the council's website.

In 2012 he produced an illustrated history of St Andrew's Church Fulham Fields and the following year he and the vicar (Canon Guy Wilkinson) persuaded Fulham FC to install a plaque in the church commemorating the origins of the football club.

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