Fulham suffer late blow against Everton

Everton 1-1 Fulham

One football innovation that failed to catch on was the Golden Goal. Between 1993 and 2004 some drawn matches were allotted a period of extra time that lasted until the decisive goal was scored.

I was reminded of that last Saturday by the Premier League results. Needless to say, boring old Manchester City had barely taken the field when Erling Haaland scrambled the winner but the other four games were decided in added time.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha saved a point in the 93rd minute as did Evanilson (Bournemouth) in the 96th, around the time that Brentford were achieving victory over Ipswich Town through Bryan Mbeumo. Were we in for a similar exhilarating/devastating moment when Fulham visited Goodison Park for the early evening fixture?

The Whites with Issa Diop replacing the suspended Joachim Andersen looked the better side in a rather drab first half. When Kenny Tete gave Raul Jimenez the chance for one of his 'turn and shoot' goals the Mexican controlled the ball stylishly but his shot was tame.

Emile Smith-Rowe was the next to take a pot shot before the home side sprang to life. When Idrissa Gueye hit the bar Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted the rebound but the point was disallowed for offside. Bernd Leno then saved comfortably from Dwight McNeil.

Tete now opted for a solo effort to beat Jason Pickford. He deftly cut through the home defence only to blaze over the bar. Perhaps this inspired the Fulham goal, which came just after the interval.

Emile Smith-Rowe foxed three, maybe four, defenders and gave Iwobi a difficult chance, which he did not waste. The ex-Evertonian seemed embarrassed but Fulham supporters have been pining for him to score goals like that. If they occur against Everton or better still the Arsenal we will not mind a bit and neither should he.

Statisticians tell us that this was Smith-Rowe's first Premier League assist in an away game since April 2022. More please. He could have scored on his own account shortly afterwards but Iwobi's cross did not find him.

Despite Iliman Ndiaye's dexterity and some probing centres from Vitaliy Mykolenko it still seemed probable that Fulham would carry off the points especially when Neto replaced Calvert-Lewin.

Back in January Neto had missed two added time sitters that could have meant victory for Everton. He atoned last Saturday when Ndiaye's cross reached him via Ashley Young in the 94th minute of play. As Emile Smith-Rowe later admitted the Whites had switched off.

This season Fulham have already dropped ten points from winning positions. Next Monday the visitors are Brentford, a side specialising in both early and late goals. Someone needs to keep tabs on Mr Mbeumo for a minimum of 96 minutes.