A blog of two halves

Can Fulham fans kick off the season with a hint of optimism?

Filling in my new diary back in January I highlighted the date of the Championship playoff final.

10 August 2016
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Floyd Ayite. Picture: Action Images

The club’s official report of Fulham’s exhilarating contest with Newcastle on a warm Friday evening spoke of ‘a quiet first half’. There was nothing quiet about the Hammersmith End where the fans gave an ear splitting welcome to the new Whites and the returning favourites. The players responded with a performance of which each one could be proud.

As a goalkeeper David Button is renowned for his thoughtful distribution of the ball (with his hands anyway). His eagerness does take him out of the penalty area, as Real Betis noted, but on his home debut Newcastle’s only long shot found him safely on his line.

The back four (Odoi, Kalas, Malone, Madl) and  midfielders McDonald and Tunnicliffe stifled the visiting attack though Denis Odoi's foul at the edge of the penalty area and Ryan Tunnicliffe's blatant handball provided two scary moments in the first period. To be fair Newcastle were fortunate when Grant Hanley missed the ball and connected with Aluko's back foot, robbing him of a scoring opportunity.

Having lost Ross McCormack to the Villa, Jokanovic used Smith as a lone striker, supported by Cairney, Aluko and Ayite. Sone Aluko's efforts notwithstanding, Fulham seemed no more likely than Newcastle to open the scoring.

Then Matt Smith executed a textbook header from Tom Cairney's corner kick, and the home side were ahead, just before half-time. 'Fulham top of the League,' sang the fans and theoretically the goal did put the Whites at the top and Newcastle at the bottom of an otherwise alphabetical table.

Benitez's men returned to the field with greater determination, and Button was called on to make his first real save. Fulham still impressed  with Odoi cheekily bamboozling Paul Dummett, who was one of several visiting players to lose self-control.

To round off a splendid evening Fulham supporters sang a tribute to the wonderful Brede Hangeland, whose retirement had just been announced. I did not hear 'Happy Days Are Here Again' but it might not have been inappropriate.

A completely different eleven took the field at Orient for the League Cup tie. After Matt Smith's winner against Newcastle, Cauley Woodrow seized his chance to impress with two second half goals. A 3-0 lead looked impregnable but Fulham conceded twice in the final 20 minutes – some habits die hard.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.

Morgan Phillips

Morgan is our Fulham FC blogger.

Born in Fulham in 1939 Morgan has lived in the district ever since. His parents (both Fulham supporters) took him to Craven Cottage in 1948 and he was immediately smitten, though it was not until the mid-1960s that he became interested in the club's history.

Articles in the supporters' magazine Cottage Pie were followed in 1976 by Morgan's publication of the first complete history 'Fulham We Love You'.

In the 1980s he wrote occasional articles for the reconstituted Cottage Pie under his own name and under the pseudonym Henry Dubb.

As public interest grew in football history, Morgan compiled 'From St Andrew's to Craven Cottage' (2007) describing the evolution of a church team into a professional organisation with its own stadium.

This led to regular articles in Hammersmith & Fulham Council's h&f news and then to a blog on the council's website.

In 2012 he produced an illustrated history of St Andrew’s Church Fulham Fields and the following year he and the vicar (Canon Guy Wilkinson) persuaded Fulham FC to install a plaque in the church commemorating the origins of the football club.

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