One Sunday afternoon long ago (19 August 2001), Fulham fans without access to Sky TV tuned into BBC radio for a live broadcast from Old Trafford, where the team was making its first appearance in the Premier League.
As the coverage of the previous event overran slightly the match was already in progress by the time the commentary started and Louis Saha was celebrating a fourth minute goal.
Of course, United engineered a free kick for David Beckham’s equaliser, but Saha repeated his feat early in the second half. Two goals from debutant Ruud van Nistleroy secured victory for the Premier Champions, but many Monday newspapers printed a picture of a delighted Saha shocking Old Trafford – and Alex Ferguson put the Frenchman on his wanted list.
Last Saturday, I was reminded of that match when (not for the first time) I had problems logging onto the club’s live broadcast of an away game. There were minutes of silence, broken only by a robotic monosyllable, before the familiar tones of Jim and Jamie broke through just as Fabio Carvalho was scoring against Manchester City in the (yes) fourth minute.
We had apparently missed an important save by Paulo Gazzaniga from Jack Grealish. As for the Fulham goal, it arose from an inspired pass by Aleksandar Mitrovic in the centre circle, which freed Harry Wilson to set up the unmarked Carvalho.
Strong teams
It was unsurprising that both managers had fielded strong teams. With a healthy lead in their respective leagues, neither manager needed to feel apprehensive about an FA Cup run. Nor were Manchester City slow to respond to their visitors’ brazen impudence. Half a dozen passes from kick-off led to the influential Riyad Mahrez servicing Ilkay Gundogan with the equaliser.
The good football continued but yielded only one more goal in the first half. Neco Williams, on loan to the Whites from Liverpool, interrupted a heavy attack by conceding a corner, from which John Stones headed City into the lead.
Fulham’s performance up to the interval won the praise of both managers. Unfortunately, the second period saw two fatal lapses in concentration by the visiting defence. Tosin could easily have cleared the ball after a corner but he allowed Grealish to take it forward and draw a penalty from Joe Bryan, which Mahrez put beyond Gazzaniga’s reach. The striker doubled his tally when Harrison Reed yielded the ball to Kevin De Bruyne.
There could have been two more goals. Substitute Liam Delap rejoiced too early before the assistant referee flagged him offside, and Carvalho should have scored when the City’s keeper Zack Steffen palmed Neeskens Kebano’s long range effort towards him.
Still the Match of the Day pundits had warm words for the Fulham youngster, who has already attracted Liverpool’s attention.
Home truths
Tuesday evening brought the first home match since Paul Parish’s untimely passing.
Everyone in the ground combined to make it a heart-warming and uplifting occasion. Fans of both teams applauded Paul for over a minute and the Hammersmith End sang his name constantly. The players dedicated the second goal to him and after the final whistle they lined up with Marco Silva and Luis Boa Morte so that each man could offer his individual condolence to Clare Parish and the family.
“It just happened organically,” explained Bobby DeCordova-Reid. “Chalobah spotted them so we went over to pay our respects. It was nice for the whole club to come together.”
The match proved absorbing. It is a pity that Millwall fans still proclaim ‘No-one likes us – we don’t care’ as their team gave a good account of themselves (a pity too that some in the Hammersmith End responded with archaic discriminatory language).
The visitors dominated the first half hour and must have been disheartened when Fulham went ahead. Following an exchange of passes between Neco Williams and Harry Wilson the ball was deflected to Mitrovic, who added yet another goal to his impressive tally.
Thereafter, Fulham were dominant even if they still lacked their normal fluidity, while Millwall squandered several chances.
Early in the second half Williams won a corner, from which several players tried their luck including Tim Ream. Carvalho’s shot was saved by the keeper only for Mitro to snap up the rebound – and wave triumphantly towards the Parishes.
In the 77th minute Bobby DeCordova-Reid replaced the Serb and ten minutes later finished off some excellent work between Wilson and Carvalho by scoring an opportunist goal – a worthy finish to a deeply satisfying match.
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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