Fulham's final match before the World Cup brought Manchester United to the Cottage on Remembrance Sunday.
Tom Cairney carried the club's wreath onto the pitch, while Aleksandar Mitrovic was still recovering from injury and the team was further weakened by the absence of Harrison Reed and Kenny Tete, both suspended.
Confidence
The Whites started confidently enough and Carlos Vicinius, Mitro's deputy, had a decent shot saved by David de Gea but it was United who took an early lead.
Casemiro dispossessed Cairney and in no time at all Christian Eriksen was diverting Bruno Fernandes's cross past Bernd Leno. In the evenly balanced contest that ensued, Harry Wilson reminded us of his shooting prowess. But his best effort was from too far out to elude de Gea. While Leno needed two attempts to keep out Martial.
Interval
After the interval Tim Ream, majestic as ever in defence, nearly headed an equaliser, but de Gea fisted clear. To improve Fulham's chances Marco Silva made one of his inspired substitutions, sending on Dan James to score a goal very similar to United's.
A Fulham breakaway began when Bruno Fernandes lost the ball to Antonee Robinson and finished with James netting from Cairney's centre. Eleven minutes later Joao Palhinha somehow managed an overhead kick in a crowded penalty area, but the goalkeeper was equal to it.
A draw looked likely, a Fulham victory by no means unimaginable but the second successive match ended in disappointment.
United's young substitute Alejandro Garnacho ran through the tiring defence to score with the last kick of the game.
No reward
Two good performances against noted opposition from Manchester had gained absolutely no reward.
Normally Marco Silva would have urged his players to wipe out any regrets with a good result the following week. This will not be possible – but at least the management team and the players will know how much the supporters really appreciate their Premier League progress.
Christmas greetings
As they left the ground I heard a number of fans exchanging Christmas greetings because the next match at the Cottage will be on New Year's Eve.
Not that there was too much Christmas spirit at the Hammersmith End. As Anthony Martial left the pitch on being substituted he threw his jersey into the crowd – an unexpected gesture in that section of the stadium but scarcely enough to justify the outrage that it caused.
And the personal abuse of Bruno Fernandes seemed rather cheap. Full marks to United's Fernandes and Eriksen for their comments on Qatar.
Fulham in the press
In a recent blog I grumbled that a match report in the Times had managed to avoid mentioning a single Fulham player so I will place on record my satisfaction with last Saturday's edition which devoted adjoining pages to Palhinha and Abdeslam Ouaddou. There was even a feature on Cliff Jones though his Fulham connection went unmentioned.
OK, you probably won't recall Ouaddou unless (pub question) you can identify the unused subs on the night that Fulham won the Intertoto Cup 20 years ago – and Cliff joined the club in its worst ever season (1968-69) – but Palhinha certainly deserves the attention that he is receiving.
If only his spectacular effort had resulted in a goal... Even without it Sky Sports named him Man of the Match and on BBC Jermaine Jenas admitted: "Fulham fans won't thank me for saying it but he's a top, top player."
Don't apologise, Jermaine, we do have top players occasionally.
Fulham Women
On Sunday (20 November), Fulham's women will meet AFC Wimbledon at Craven Cottage in the first round of the FA Cup.
There is an interesting link between these two teams. Back in the 1980s, the Friends of Fulham did some great pioneering work challenging the prejudices of the time and winning the FA Women's Cup in 1985.
Unfortunately, a lack of financial support compelled them to merge with their Wimbledon rivals.
In 1993, during the Jimmy Hill period, Fulham formed its own women's team and when Al Fayed took over, he invested a lot of money – foreseeing the day when there would be a fully professional league involving the major clubs.
Thus in 2001-02, the team scored 345 goals and conceded just 15. With players like Rachel Yankee, reportedly England's first professional woman footballer, Fulham did a clean sweep in 2002-03 by securing the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Premier League title (see photo below).
This was the acme. With no other club taking up the professional challenge Al Fayed reduced his support. Even so the team still flourished under the guidance of Marieanne Spacey.
But in 2006, the club ended its support altogether. Some enthusiasts kept the team going for the next four seasons then there was a gap until the arrival of the Khans.
The new team – now known as Fulham FC Women – compete in the London & South East Regional League. It will be great to see them on Sunday at the Cottage.
Kickoff is 2pm and tickets just £5 – or £1 for kids.
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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