Carabao Cup and derby day joy for Fulham

For six decades and more I have hoped to see Fulham win the League Cup (now known as the Carabao). When it was first instituted the elite clubs staged a boycott, giving the Whites their best ever chance of success. Instead, on the 26^thSeptember 1960 Fulham became the first club to be eliminated from the competition. That set the pattern for the rest of the century. Before the arrival of Al Fayed the club managed just two quarterfinals and once had to suffer the indignity of a 10-0 defeat at Liverpool in 1986.

There has been no meaningful change in the present century though Marco Silva does seem to show more ambition than his predecessors. The draw has been kind to Fulham this year, giving them two home matches against teams from a lower division. Silva put out a very experienced starting line-up for Cambridge United's visit on Tuesday evening including the new signing Kevin.

The home side offered a limp first half performance followed by a more focused attitude after the break (a description to fit several games this season). Visiting keeper Jake Eastwood saved two decent attempts from Harrison Reed and seemed in the 66^th minute to have thwarted Raul Jimenez but the ball rebounded to Timothy Castagne, who presented Emile Smith Rowe with the winning goal. United never achieved a shot on target as Fulham booked their place in the next round.

Saturday night success

Saturday evening is hardly the most convenient time for a football match and those who could not get to the Cottage last weekend (there were plenty of empty seats) will have missed a convincing home victory over Brentford. The Whites showed a lot more determination than against Leeds the previous week even if they were occasionally guilty of sloppiness.

Ryan Sessegnon and Alex Iwobi provided an early threat and Harry Wilson was quick to test goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who also made a crucial save from Joachim Andersen. The visitors replied with a succession of long throws by Michael Kayode, one of which almost embarrassed Bernd Leno.

The end-to-end football met the expectations for a local derby but it was the visitors who drew first blood. Twenty minutes into the match Josh King on the edge of his own penalty area inadvertently passed straight to an unmarked Mikkel Dansgaard, who took the ball forward and swept it into the net. The Whites were quick to console their young team-mate, yet another victim of playing from the back. Marco Silva later praised Josh's resilience. By the end of the match he had already clocked up 342 minutes of Premier League football this season.

With their historic rivals a goal ahead Fulham had to abandon their usual first half stroll. As urgency took over, Kelleher saved from Sessegnon and breathed relief that no Fulham player could exploit the rebound. In the 37^th minute the keeper's defence failed to clear a loose ball and Iwobi prodded it into the net. Hardly had the cheering died before Iwobi enabled Harry Wilson to notch yet another of his Bees-demoralising goals.

The contest was far from over but supporters' nerves were settled soon after the break when Sessegnon's cross caused consternation in the Brentford penalty area and Ethan Pinnock, caught in two minds, allowed the ball to loop off his back his back into the net – not unlike the winner against Leeds. OG is our top scorer.

To our disbelief Fulham then found themselves 4-1 ahead after the industrious Rodrigo Muniz put a glorious drive past Kelleher. Sadly once again the Brazilian lost out to VAR, which directed referee Michael Oliver to ponder a mid-air collision leading up to the goal. Muniz had committed no obvious foul but I suppose the ref could hardly ignore the blood spouting from Nathan Collins's mouth. He awarded Brentford a free kick. I do not feel that justice was done and significantly Keith Hackett also has stated that Jarred Gillett, the VAR man, should not have intervened. It was very hard luck on Rodrigo. The match ended 3-1.

I had a clear view of the disallowed point but for much of the game I and my fellow spectators had our enjoyment of the match marred by the selfishness of those choosing to stand up, thereby blocking our view of the penalty area below us. One 'standee' repeatedly turned round to discuss the match with fans sitting behind him, seemingly unaware that he was limiting their sight of the play. The club prefers to ignore this recurrent problem and directs its warnings solely at the opposition's supporters. The situation may get worse if the club makes further progress in the Cup.