Fulham 1-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Last Saturday around 4.50pm, residents of SW6 may have been alarmed to hear the tramp of marching feet.
There was no cause for alarm; it was just Fulham supporters making an early exit from Craven Cottage, where their team was losing 3-1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
As the London team had been enjoying an unbeaten run and the Wolves were in the relegation zone, a comfortable home win had previously looked likely (the Metro predicted 3-0). Hence the disgruntled exit accompanied by a few boos at head coach Marco Silva.
Gratitude is short-lived; earlier in the afternoon some of those same fans had been singing his praises and rhapsodising about a possible qualification for Europe next season.
With Sasa Lukic returning from injury, Silva was able to field his first-choice team. Wolves had been injury hit but victory over Southampton had boosted their confidence and both sides did their utmost to play attacking football in the rain and wind. The goalkeepers however were little involved though Jose Sa did outwit Emile Smith Rowe with some nifty footwork.
The game finally came alive in the 20th minute. Reiss Nelson and Antonee Robinson worked the ball over to Raul Jimenez, who somehow hit the woodwork when a gentle prod would have found the net.
The visitors' respite was brief because shortly afterwards Alex Iwobi, assisted by Kenny Tete, put Fulham ahead with a delicious shot curling into the top left-hand corner of Sa's net.
Around the half-hour our former defender Mario Lemina effected the first of several crucial interventions when his precise long pass found Matheus Cunha, who deftly flicked the ball past Bernd Leno.
The score remained level for the rest of the half though the referee Rob Jones could have penalised Lemina for his last-ditch tackle on Nelson. Incidentally Jones and his colleagues had a good match with a discreet use of VAR.
Wolves take the initiative in the second half
In the second half it was reasonable to assume that Fulham's attack would benefit from the Hammersmith Enders breathing down the necks of the visitors.
This may well have caused Rayan Ait-Nouri to divert the ball against his own crossbar but it had no effect on the inspired Cunha who completed a neat passing movement by creating a goal for Joao Gomes. Wolves had seized the initiative.
Marco Silva, normally chary with his substitutions, sent on Harry Wilson and Tom Cairney just before the hour mark, followed by Rodrigo Muniz, Timothy Castagne and Adama Traore.
Harry Wilson nearly obliged with a goal (as he had in the two previous League matches) but his long shot hit the bar. Despite the newcomers' best efforts an equaliser failed to materialise.
Fulham's misfortunes increased when Joachim Andersen limped off injured and Silva had used all his substitutes with at least fifteen minutes remaining. A disorganised defence allowed Cunha to inflict further damage.
'With their team a man short and losing 3-1 at home, quite a few of the spectators…' Sorry, that is what I wrote about the Aston Villa match a month ago. We got a repeat last Saturday.
There were ten minutes of play remaining and Harry Wilson was still on the field a 3-3 draw was technically possible but added time saw a fourth Wolves goal, netted by Goncalo Guedes, who had just replaced Cunha.
4-1 sightly flattered the Wolves but it was an afternoon for top quality goals.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
