Fulham 2-0 Bristol City
Fulham 1-1 Manchester United
After last season's Carabao hi-jinks Fulham will have been relieved to start their latest Cup campaign with a straightforward home win over Bristol City.
As Tom Cairney remarked afterwards it was an enjoyable night. In the seventh minute Issa Diop launched a right flank attack that led to Adama Traore supplying a perfect centre for Raul Jimenez though the unfortunate George Tanner was the last to touch the ball before it crossed the line.
Fourteen minutes later Harrison Reed's corner granted the Mexican an undisputed goal, one that showed his true class.
As expected Marco Silva had made wholesale changes from Sunday's line-up but Benjamin Lecomte was the only unfamiliar face. In his lengthy career the keeper must had had few easier matches though City did rally in the second half and just before the close Benjamin's fellow countryman Fally Mayulu hit the post.
The Whites will host Cambridge United in mid-September.
New season tickets
Last Sunday a packed Craven Cottage enjoyed a thrilling and controversial encounter between Fulham and Manchester United. The controversy arose from a penalty awarded after a belated intervention by VAR.
The BBC Breakfast pundit's description of the first half as 'otherwise uneventful' was incorrect both on the field and off. Like dozens of other supporters I presented my brand-new season ticket at the turnstile only to be met with a red light and an unapologetic dismissal by the operator.
I joined a zig-zag queue of bewildered fans outside the ticket office. The mood was surprisingly calm, perhaps because the queue was moving perceptibly and the officials were doing their best to reassure the fans though it was tiresome that random people were permitted to jump the queue.
There could be no question of priority as we were all in the same boat. We had bought a ticket in good faith and we were anxious to watch the game from the start.
After fifteen minutes or so I found myself inside the office. The quietly efficient agent required no explanation. He took my ticket away and swiftly printed a new one. As I left I asked a steward to explain the queue jumping. He answered that it was a stewarding problem – a reply in the old Civil Service tradition: brief, accurate and leaving me none the wiser.
As I walked to the turnstiles I heard the match kicking off. I pressed my replacement ticket to the reader asking myself 'What if?' but it all was well and I soon joined the regulars at the Hammersmith End.
I had to disabuse them of two possible reasons for the delay. No, I had not presented last season's ticket nor had facial recognition identified me as a hooligan. Joking aside I wish that the system had been properly tested before the tickets were distributed.
VAR inconsistencies
I had missed two dangerous strikes in the first two minutes by Matheus Cunha, one of which hit the post, but was in time to witness a bold run by Josh King and a dazzling save by Bernd Leno (Cunha again). Having survived this early onslaught Fulham applied their own pressure through King, Alex Iwobi and (returning from injury) Ryan Sessegnon.
A United corner had come to nothing and play had switched to the visitors' end before referee Chris Kavanagh paused to consider a VAR claim of 'holding'. Certainly, as the corner was taken, three couples were grappling and at least four players landed on the turf.
The referee and his assistant presumably saw all this as 50-50, impossible to penalise. VAR on the other hand picked out Calvin Bassey alone because he had performed a kind of wrestling throw. Three long minutes after the incident Kavanagh awarded a penalty. Bruno Fernandes, who had good humouredly endured the home fans' silly taunts, won their cheers when his kick flew wide and high. The half thus ended with no score.
Josh King made an early breakthrough after the interval but, as at Brighton the previous week, he fell to a last-ditch challenge. United responded by taking the lead when Leny Yoro's header from another corner bounced off Rodrigo Muniz into the net.
The three presenters of BBC's Match of the Day 2 agreed with Marco Silva's claim that Calvin Bassey had been fouled in the process. Somehow a two-handed push in the back did not bother the VAR team.
Once again Silva's substitutions saved the day. In the 73rd minute Antonee Robinson released Iwobi to deliver a tempting low cross that Emile Smith Rowe (having just taken the field) toed into the net. Maybe Fulham were fortunate near the close when United's substitute Harry Maguire headed wide from yet another corner but the home side richly deserved the point.
Never mind. Reds, you'll find it easier at Grimsby.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
