December may have been a cruel month for Fulham. But January has brought joy to all connected with the club – except perhaps for the employee responsible for feeding the electricity meter.
The brief power cut that delayed last Saturday's kickoff did at least allow many latecomers to see the entirety of an absorbing match.
Bristol City were determined to show that though beaten in the FA Cup tie they could still upset the home side's promotion challenge. Fulham were still buzzing from their 7-0 defeat of Reading on Tuesday evening, so both teams concentrated on attack and tended to neglect defence.
A seventh minute breakaway allowed Antoine Semenyo to fox Tom Cairney and thump the ball past Marek Rodak at the near post. It took nearly a quarter of an hour for Fulham to equalise, Aleksandar Mitrovic elegantly heading past Max O'Leary.
The inspired Semenyo restored City's lead taking advantage of a lucky rebound and ghosting past Tim Ream and Harrison Reed. This affront to the promotion seekers was punished by a torrent of goals.
First, Neeskens Kebano diverted a Mitrovic header into the net then Fabio Carvalho received a pass from Tim Ream and with insolent ease cut through the Bristol defence to put Fulham ahead. Before half-time the Serbian master added two more goals, a header and a left footed strike. Thus, the visitors found themselves 5-2 down though referee Tim Harrison should have awarded them a penalty for a foul on Jay Dasilva.
Perhaps Fulhamites will now warm towards the official who denied Wilson a spot kick in the recent Bournemouth match? Mr Harrison seems to give defenders the benefit of even the smallest doubt.
Halftime speculation centred on high scores of the past and the possibility of records being broken.
Goals abound
On the same date 73 years ago, I watched Fulham defeat Bury 7-2 and a week later trounce Plymouth 6-1, the legendary centre-forward Arthur Rowley scoring seven of the 13 goals. But those were both home matches and seven days apart. Their 2022 counterparts had won 7-0 away and three days later were leading 5-2 after just one half of the match.
As far as goals were concerned, the second half proved disappointing. The match was already won, and Fulham supporters were justifiably serenading their team as being top of the league and more optimistically a threat to Manchester City in the FA Cup.
Kebano scored the only goal of the half, impressively gathering the ball and shooting on the turn. Alas when he had the chance of a hat-trick overenthusiasm caused him to rush his shot. The match ended 6-2.
An extra pleasure of the afternoon was hearing Leroy Rosenior's warm and perceptive recollections in the half-time interview on the pitch. Leroy – author of 'It's only Banter'- was a classy and exciting striker (in one season notching 20 goals in 34 appearances) so he will have relished watching Mitro in action.
Follow up?
How would Fulham follow up two so emphatic victories?
Arthur Rowley and his teammates lost at Blackburn Rovers (though they recovered to gain promotion as champions). The current squad had no intention of letting Birmingham City enjoy their visit to the Cottage.
Early in Tuesday night's match, Harry Wilson sidefooted a low centre from the right towards Mitrovic but Marc Roberts intercepted and unwittingly put the ball past Neil Etheridge. It was not until the 35th minute that the scoring began in earnest with a Denis Odoi pass from the right allowing Kebano to increase his personal tally. Three minutes later Antonee Robinson showed that he could do just as well over on the left side, when he provided Carvalho with the chance to head home. Five minutes later, a seven-man attack ended with Tom Cairney shooting in off the post. There was just time before the interval for Ivan Sunjic to reduce the deficit.
Sunjic had scored from the fringes of the penalty area, and in the 74th minute Gary Gardner did likewise, giving the visitors some hope. Carvalho found the net just a minute later and Robinson made it 6-2 just before the game ended.
On social media some humourists complained about Mitro's failure to score in this game. He takes his football seriously, but he will probably see the joke. In reality, it's great to have almost every outfield player on this season's score sheet. Maybe something could yet be arranged for Marek Rodak.
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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