There have been years when Fulham seemed incapable of winning a match away from Craven Cottage and I always admired those supporters who visited the ground of every opponent no matter how inconvenient or uninviting.
This year has been so different. Away from the Cottage Marco Silva’s men have won 10 matches and lost only two of 15 League games, scoring nearly twice as many goals as Bournemouth and almost triple the tally of Blackburn Rovers.
The entertainment value is less predictable. Saturday’s 1-0 win at Cardiff closely resembled the match earlier this month when Hull City lost by the same score. Both sides are in the lower half of the table and both lost despite their best efforts simply because they have no-one like Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Harry Wilson deserves credit too for the team’s success. Having been rested in mid-week, he was soon in action at Cardiff but his tame effort failed to trouble Alex Smithies. The keeper immediately prompted a breakaway when his long clearance, helped on by Rubin Colwill, allowed an unmarked James Collins the clearest of opportunities (‘one moment when we slept completely’ as Silva later acknowledged). Marek Rodak calmly smothered Collins’s attempt.
A dead ball situation in the 40th minute was all that Fulham needed to take the lead. The short corner is not universally loved but it worked perfectly at Cardiff. While Harrison Reed tapped the ball to Harry Wilson, Mitro slipped away from Aden Flint and awaited Wilson’s cross, which he headed well beyond Smithies’s reach. This was Mitrovic’s only effort on target but it secured three points.
The second half had its moments. After the referee rejected a penalty appeal for an apparent handball by Flint, Bobby DeCordova-Reid wasted the chance of scoring a goal and silencing the jeers of the home supporters. With feelings running high there was even a spat in the commentary box, where Jim, Jamie and a Blues fan wrangled over the philosophical teaser ‘Is it a foul if the officials don’t see it?’. In the absence of VAR only Ivan Cavaleiro and Perry Ng know what exactly happened when they clashed. Silva reacted with fury but later refused to comment.
It was hard to pick Man of the Match. Mitrovic scored the necessary goal but supporters gave the preference to Tim Ream, whose marshalling of the defence ensured a clean sheet.
Mitrovic keeps pace with Newton
Ninety years ago Fulham fans saw their team score 111 League goals in one season (in the Third Division South) with 66 per cent of the goals coming from two players Frank Newton and Jim Hammond. Jim was a great all-rounder, representing Sussex CC throughout the summer, but Frank scored more League goals in a season than any other Fulham player before or since – till now.
By the end of February 1932, Newton had 34 to his credit with 12 matches left to play. Mitrovic has a similar total with 13 games remaining. It could scarcely be closer.
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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