I can remember being among the 38,000 spectators squeezed into Craven Cottage to watch Fulham play Spurs on 4 December 1948.
To ensure a good vantage point from the enclosure, my mother and I entered the ground an hour before kick-off. The Tottenham squad (all English apart from two Welshmen) included goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn and three defenders – Ron Burgess, Bill Nicholson and Vic Buckingham – who later became successful managers. (Vic was the one who came to Fulham but the less said about his tenure the better.)
The result that December afternoon was a pulsating 1-1 draw, which taught me early on that a point from Spurs is a cause for celebration. But what were Ditchburn and his team-mates doing in the second tier? Actually, Tottenham had been there since the 1930s. They won promotion in 1950 (a year after Fulham) and then secured the Championship, a rare triumph for a London side of that era. In the late 1950s, I was at college surrounded by students from the North of England, who were quick to mock the teams from the ‘soft south’.
They had a point – but for me there was still a mystique surrounding Highbury and White Hart Lane, where Fulham were always the underdogs. You can imagine the headlines when we lost 5-1 at White Hart Lane on Guy Fawkes Day 1960. (To be fair Spurs were heading for the League and Cup double – another achievement for the soft south.) When Fulham did snatch a point at the Lane – thanks to Johnny Haynes, Jimmy Hill or Graham Leggat – it was an occasion to savour.
Our team dropped out of the top tier in 1968 and for the rest of the 20th Century had few encounters with Tottenham and Arsenal. Nor did Al Fayed’s millions later guarantee success against north London. I rarely leave before the final whistle but 20 years ago I made an early exit from Highbury because I felt that Jean Tigana and his players had surrendered far too meekly to the Gunners.
But there was no hint of surrender at Tottenham last Saturday.
In the final stages of the game, it was the home fans urging the referee to blow for time. Fulham had shown great resilience although they were pounded from the start by four Tottenham corners in quick succession. The fourth led to Son Heung-min finding the net only for Harry Kane to be rightly penalised for blocking the keeper’s vision.
It was tough to see Antonee Robinson taken off injured, as the American has done really well this season. Kevin Mbabu, who replaced him, was dispossessed by Ryan Sessegnon, allowing Richarlison to set up Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for the opener.
Not our best performance
After the interval Hugo Lloris nearly paid for overconfidence when challenged by Aleks Mitrovic. The goalkeeper needed a fingertip save to prevent an equaliser. At the other end Bernd Leno frustrated the ever-active Sessegnon. Marco Silva elected to introduce Tom Cairney and new signings Wilian and Daniel James only to see Spurs go further ahead through Kane.
“It wasn’t our best performance,” admitted Silva subsequently but his players had made a brave attempt to save the match. An 83rd minute breakaway ended with Mitrovic defying six defenders to curl the ball past Lloris, after which a wicked deflection nearly brought Fulham level. At least the away fans had the schadenfreude of seeing Richarlison have a goal disallowed and earn a yellow card for his premature celebration.
This match was yet another metropolitan set-back for our team. Apparently of 141 Premier League games against London opposition Fulham have won just 26. It is no shame to lose by a single goal at the stadia of two top clubs in the Premier League, but nine more such fixtures await and the Whites must improve their record. Ideally starting next Saturday against Chelsea.
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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