As expected, West Ham proved a tough test for Fulham’s reorganised defence, but goalkeeper Alphonse Areola defied all-comers with a series of spectacular saves, giving real hope for an away point.
Scott Parker’s team even had a couple of first half opportunities, which went begging. It was not until the 70th minute that the Whites achieved two efforts on target, Ademola Lookman and then Bobby DeCordova-Reid both shooting straight at the West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski.
At this point in the match David Moyes introduced Said Benrahma , the man who back in June, playing for Brentford, jeopardised Fulham’s promotion chances by scoring one late goal and making another.
Saturday’s match was transformed by VAR and the events in added time, and the former Brentford star had his part to play, gathering Joachim Andersen’s headed clearance and setting up Tomas Soucek to score in the 91st minute.
There was still time for a corner kick at the other end of the pitch. This resulted in a scramble which left Tom Cairney on the turf. Referee Robert Jones spotted nothing amiss – but VAR persuaded him to check the monitor and then he awarded a penalty against Benrahma.
Apparently Aleks Mitrovic was not fully fit so the kick was allotted to Lookman. Fulham’s radio commentators Jim and Jamie described the scene for those like me who were unprepared to pay £14.95 for a live TV feed:
JIM: The 96th minute. This is about the last kick of the game.
JAMIE: The referee will blow up.
JIM: Ademola Lookman will step up. Fabianski in goal. Oh, dearie me.
JAMIE: What was he doing? What was he doing?
JIM: Well...
At this point the referee blew the final whistle. Jim and Jamie maintained a stunned silence, leaving listeners bemused. I wondered if an old review sketch by AP Herbert had come to reality and the penalty had given Lookman a Chekhovian moment of introspection which questioned the importance of what he was about to do. Jim finally found the words:
You can imagine what happened. He’s made a complete -er- he’s made a complete mess. He’s gone for the little chip (Panenka) and my two-year-old granddaughter could have hit it harder.
So, it wasn’t Chekhov, it was Czech. Lookman had attempted to copy the Prague-born Antonin Panenka’s manoeuvre of ‘dinking’ the keeper but had invested so little power that Fabianski, who was slightly wrong-footed, had time to recover.
The Panenka has in the past embarrassed Cantona, Lineker, Crouch, Ronaldo and Sterling and should be forbidden to clubs seeking to avoid relegation.
Sportingly David Moyes acknowledged that the Hammers’ winning goal was unfair in that Joachim Andersen only headed the ball because he did not want it to reach Sebastien Haller, who was in an offside position. Technically, Haller was not interfering in play so the officials could not penalise him.
Fulham should have got a draw. Alphonse Areola most certainly did not deserve to be on the losing side.
And meanwhile, Chelsea legend Pat Nevin claims his missed penalty was WORSE than Ademola Lookman's fluffed Panenka.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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