The sickness bug that had affected Fulham's midweek performance against Derby had not entirely vanished by Saturday lunchtime's visit to Preston. Aleksandar Mitrovic was back but did not look match fit.
Fulham's early attacks concentrated on North End's right flank, but the first goal came from the right. After Joshua Earl's 14th minute foul on Harry Wilson, Jean-Michael Seri sent in a swirling centre that Tim Ream prodded home – his first goal since Boxing Day 2017.
The superior team at this point, Fulham could only be halted by Preston fouls, to the displeasure of Mitrovic in particular. For Preston, Emil Riis kept Ream occupied without calling Fulham's goalkeeper Marek Rodak into meaningful action until the 33rd minute. Rodak's counterpart Daniel Iversen also enjoyed a quiet afternoon, gathering speculative shots from a distance.
The second half might have followed a similar pattern had not Antonee Robinson infuriated the Preston players and supporters with his heavy challenge on Tom Barkhuisen. To counter the energised home side, Marco Silva brought on Bobby DeCordova-Reid and Josh Onomah. As in the Derby game, the changes made little difference whereas Ched Evans turned the match soon after taking the field.
When the substitute nodded in Ben Whiteman's corner the officials did not see the ball glancing off the hands of both Riis and the scorer. VAR would have led to a lengthy study of the incident and possibly disallowed the goal (it would certainly have considered a red card for Robinson's earlier foul). Fulham still had 18 minutes (plus an additional five) to restore their lead, but disappointingly they offered little threat to Iversen.
Bournemouth could have overtaken the Whites later that afternoon – but once again they managed only a draw. It makes Friday night's game at the Cottage even more enticing.
Alf Marshall
I referred a few weeks ago to Fulham's 1912 team, and in particular to a player called Alf Marshall.
His nephew David Marshall has kindly allowed me to publish this photo of Alf's medal from that year. On the reverse it says the 'London Professional Football Fund a Marshall'. David has a similar medal presented to William Walker, Alf's brother-in-law.
Knowing little about the Fund, I consulted the Fulham Football Club Wiki. Apparently, this was an annual competition that involved 12 London teams and was held between 1909 and 1930. It consisted of a single match played on a Monday afternoon, usually in Autumn, and though the charitable intention was good the tournament attracted little interest.
The one result that no one wanted was a draw like 1913 when Fulham need extra time to win 2-1 at QPR. With no floodlights the game must have finished in the dark.
Alf and William received their medals for beating Spurs 1-0 on 14 October 1912.
From 1919 onwards, Chelsea regularly provided the opposition and Fulham managed to beat them in 1923 and 1924. Two matches ended as draws but the clubs opted for a replay rather than extra time – and oddly enough were unable to fit the replays into their fixture list.
Fulham's last Fund matches – in 1929 and 1930 – were against Brentford, who lost 2-1 and 5-2, so at least the Whites ended with a flourish.
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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