Fulham 1-3 Aston Villa
Saturday's home fixture against Aston Villa should have produced a thrilling Premier League contest. Expectations looked justified when Fulham took the lead so early in the match that the acrid fumes from the absurd pyrotechnics still hung in the air.
With the ball at his feet goalkeeper Bernd Leno spotted Raul Jimenez at the other end of the pitch and curled it in his direction. Villa were caught napping and Raul shrugged off two defenders to increase his tally for the season.
This vaguely old-fashioned goal was one to be savoured by everyone apart from the Midlanders. Purists can be reassured that it was not a drop kick – good keepers can do marvels these days without using their hands. And shortly afterwards Leno sparked another promising attack with a short throw to Alex Iwobi.
The bright beginning was dimmed by a slick Villa passing move that concluded with Morgan Rogers scoring a lucky 9th minute equaliser. His soft shot would not have beaten Leno had it not deflected off Calvin Bassey.
The match suddenly became more even. Jimenez headed just wide from an Andreas Pereira corner before Leno defied Ollie Watkins in a one-to-one confrontation. The Mexican missed a further opportunity but so did Morgan Rogers.
Fulham should have retaken the lead when Kenny Tete's swirling centre struck the hand of Matty Cash. In previous seasons this would have meant a certain penalty but of late the referees have been more tolerant (rightly so in my view). Darren England saw nothing amiss until the VAR's Paul Tierney urged him to consult the monitor.
After the spot kick was awarded Pereira stepped forward – surprisingly as we assumed that Jimenez was still Marco Silva's first choice. So how did Andreas hope to outsmart the infuriatingly gifted Emi Martinez? His soft, low prod slightly to the keeper's left ranked with Ademola Lookman's disastrous Panenka four years ago as a demonstration of how not to take a penalty.
From this moment Fulham's confidence seemed to evaporate. The attacks diminished while errors multiplied in midfield and defence. Fortunately Leno was at his best.
As usual Silva made no changes at half-time but the players continued to struggle. On the hour Watkins scored his customary goal, heading home Youri Tieleman's cross.
Four minutes later the England international got Joachim Andersen sent off by running across him in pursuit of the ball. Pereira made way for Issa Diop to bolster the defence and almost immediately the newcomer turned a Lucas Digne cross into his own net.
That short spell of play made Villa's victory inevitable. Jimenez and Antonee Robinson, who had faced each other in America just three days before, fought bravely to the final whistle and Harry Wilson, also noteworthy in a midweek international, came on to threaten the Villa defence but to no avail.
During the first half the PA had announced that Mr Bishop was making one of his periodic visits ('Mr Bishop' is a codework for an incident used in announcements that has become somewhat of an in-joke with the Whites faithful).
The crowd gave him a cheer but the security staff ensured that he did not overstay. With their team a man short and losing 3-1 at home, quite a few supporters, even some the most ostentatious, followed the Bishop's example and headed prematurely for the exit, muttering 'It wasn't our day'.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
