Brentford 3-2 Fulham
The awareness that Fulham and Brentford both needed a win to sustain their European ambitions led to a rather dour struggle in the cold March rain.
Before Monday evening's trip to Brentford, the Metro newspaper reminisced about the 2020 Championship playoff final that Fulham won 2-1 in extra time, thanks to two Joe Bryan goals.
The sportswriter Nick Metcalfe commented: "If somebody had told you then the Blues would be trailing Fulham and Brentford in the Premier League table towards the tail-end of 2022-23 you would have found yourself calling for a steward's inquiry."
Hard to defeat
The Bees, who have proved consistently hard to defeat, attacked from the start with Ivan Toney warning Bernd Leno that he shouldn't expect a quiet evening. Bryan Mbeumo missed a simple chance of giving the home side an early lead, then saw his next effort confidently saved by Leno.
If Fulham had survived that early pressure the game might have swung their way. But in the fifth minute, Aleksandar Mitrovic only half cleared a corner and a speculative shot from Ethan Pinnock cannoned off Tim Ream and into the net. Brentford have had an excellent season – but that was their fastest goal so far in the Premier League.
Fulham needed to display more purpose and a painful collision with Harrison Reed gave the visitors a vital opportunity just outside the area. Andreas Pereira deserved to score with his free kick but it rebounded off the woodwork to the alert Manor Solomon to nod home. It was the Israeli's fifth goal in consecutive matches.
Scores level
With the scores level the scene was set for an exciting second half and Brentford had an early break when Issa Diop and Christian Noorgaard went for the same ball. Inadvertently, Issa kicked his opponent's foot and the referee Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty. Ivan Toney scored – of course. Taylor incidentally was in charge of the 2018 Championship final when Fulham overcame Aston Villa. He was, as I recall, more tolerant that afternoon than he was on Monday.
Toney nearly doubled his tally when he spotted Leno straying from his goal line (Ivan's revenge for Joe Bryan's first at Wembley?) and the striker began the move that led to Brentford's third.
Kevin Schade too easily penetrated Fulham's defence, supplying Mathias Jensen with a tap-in. Mitro came to life with a cunning flick that almost succeeded but Marco Silva's substitutions proved less effective than usual until the last minute of added time when Carlos Vinicius intelligently profited from a rebound.
Although 3-2 looks close, Brentford probably had an easier victory than they anticipated.
If nothing else, it was great to see Willian and Solomon among the seven players featured in the BBC Match of the Day's Goal of the Month for February. They lost out to Seamus Coleman, who appears to be only the seventh Irishman to win the award since the Premier League was founded. Number 5 in that list was our fondly remembered Damien Duff, exactly 13 years ago.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
Want to read more news stories like this? Subscribe to our weekly e-news bulletin.
