Can you suggest a better place for Fulham to start the new season than Brighton in mid-August? Last Saturday afternoon the temperature had dropped to a more comfortable level for players and spectators of a game that the Metro newspaper had wittily termed a play-off to finish ninth next May.
With Timothee Robinson and Ryan Sessegnon unavailable it cannot have taken Marco Silva very long to pick his starting line-up. Painfully aware that he may lose Rodrigo Muniz the head coach named Raul Jimenez to lead the line with Harry Wilson, Alex Iwobi and 18-year-old Josh King in support.
Jimenez had scored a spectacular goal in the equivalent fixture last season when a last-minute penalty awarded by referee Sam Barrott secured a narrow victory for the Seagulls. If you recall, Harrison Reed while he was clearing the ball kicked the boot of Joao Pedro. He neither intended nor (in my opinion) committed a foul but Mr Barrott thought otherwise.
Club commentators Jim and Jamie feared the worst when they saw that the same referee had been appointed for this season's match. It was inevitable that among the thirty odd fouls committed last Saturday there were incidents where one or the other set of supporters demanded a spot kick. Two in particular affected the final result.
As happened last season the first half provided scant entertainment. Bernd Leno got down well to long range effort by Georginio Rutter before Kaoru Mitoma and Harry Wilson wasted chances of heading a goal for their respective teams. Fulham never managed a single effort on target.
Arguably the visitors' best hopes rested on the shoulders of Josh King, whose interchanges with Alex Iwobi were a delight and who showed no fear of some old-fashioned roughhouse tactics. Josh's best moment came after the interval when he threaded his way forward and brought goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen into action.
Whites concede penalty
Brighton took the lead when the officials penalised Sander Berge for a clumsy tackle. Matt O'Riley scored from the spot – though as so often Leno came close to saving. The keeper really does his homework,
The goal roused Fulham. Calvin Bassey stormed into attack only to be barged to the ground then Yasin Ayari kicked Josh King's foot in an accidental collision that was decidedly similar to Harrison Reed's 'foul' last season. The visitors improved further when Silva introduced Adama Traore, Emile Smith Rowe and Rodrigo Muniz with 23 minutes left.
Brighton too were on the hunt for goals and Diego Gomez almost caught out our estimable keeper. Late into added time Smith Rowe won a corner and Wilson's delivery fooled everyone except the hawkish Muniz, who thumped the ball into the net. So we still do not know which club will finish ninth.
Congratulations to Jim and Jamie for delivering their commentary last Saturday even though the proper broadcasting facilities had not been prepared for them. But it was a tough listen.
As their voices came and went (mostly went) I thought I was back in the days of short-wave radio when if I actually found a football commentary in English it would before long be drowned by the tractor news from Radio Tirana.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
