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Fulham 1-1 Town
Fulham 1-1 Town
Sunday, 21st Oct 2001 16:33

A much-changed Town side failed to break down a Fulham side which was down to 10 men for most of the game. Luis Boa Morte saw red just before half-time for a dive, although in truth he should have gone earlier for an elbow on Fabian Wilnis. Town had gone behind to a Barry Hayles goal with the equaliser from Jermaine Wright coming in the second half.

The biggest shock for fans arriving at Craven Cottage was the omission of Marcus Stewart. Last season's top scorer moved to the bench as Alun Armstrong returned as a lone striker. Into midfield, just behind Armstrong, came Sixto Peralta for Jim Magilton while at the back Chris Makin came in for Mark Venus as Hermann Hreidarsson moved to the centre of the defence alongside John McGreal. In midfield Jamie Clapham took the place of Martijn Reuser. Fulham also made changes with Louis Saha left out.

The atrocious conditions helped neither team or supporters, many of whom were in open terraces which were dotted with umbrellas. The Town support had been allocated a section of the Stevenage Road Stand which thankfully was covered. Last time we were here we had the Putney End terrace, a far worse proposition on an afternoon like this.

A large number of Town fans failed to make it to the ground before the match started. Those travelling on the coaches didn't turn up until half-an-hour into the match after floods on the A12 slowed them down. Calls were made to Fulham who refused to put the kick-off back. One fan was told this was impossible as fans on the open terraces would have got even wetter had the game been put back.

The early part of the game was characterised by a number of bad decisions by referee Mike Riley. Sixto Peralta was penalised when a defender tackled him two-footed catching the Argentinian in the face.

The tenth minute saw Hermann Hreidarsson clear a Barry Hayles cross for a corner. From this Finidi George clashed heads with an attacker and received several minutes' attention. It gradually became clear that he would play no further part in the game and Marcus Stewart replaced his as Town moved to a more traditional 4-4-2 formation.

On 16 Peralta was booked as referee Riley made no allowances for the conditions. He had fouled Hayles but the sodden conditions were more than slightly to blame. Fulham were getting all the decisions and Town fans were particularly irate at a number of very dubious looking offside decisions.

It wasn't just the crowd getting frustrated. Alun Armstrong was booked for dissent in the 20th minute when he questioned a freekick given against him when challenging for the ball in the air. Less than a minute later Fabian Wilnis received a yellow card for another challenge that owed a lot to the conditions.


It was from the resulting freekick that Fulham went ahead. The ball was crossed into the box, Wilnis failed to clear and Hayles pounced giving Sereni no chance from a few yards out.

Town were again looking very much below par and it appeared that there were arguments going on throughout the game. Marcus Stewart in particular spent a lot of time ‘discussing' matters with his team-mates.

In the 27th minute Town fans thought the afternoon would get even worse. Barry Hayles had played the ball back into the area after a corner had been cleared and it struck John McGreal. The Town defender appeared to have known little about it and it looked harsh. Boa Morte stepped up to take the kick, put it to Sereni's left and, luckily for Town, also to the left of Sereni's post. With confidence low it would have been very unlikely that Town would have come back from 2-0 down, however, the escape appeared to put new voice into fans.

On the half hour Town were awarded a freekick which was greeted by enormous cheers by Town supporters. Decisions going Town's way had been a rarity up to now and it appeared to happen again in the 34th minute when Boa Morte elbowed Fabian Wilnis in the face. Referee Riley saw it and rushed over and a red card seemed a formality. However, with Wilnis receiving treatment on the floor, Riley produced a yellow card. On his performance up to then it was all that supporters were expecting.

The 36th minute saw Alun Armstrong almost played in on the edge of the area as Town improved on the lacklustre start to the game.

On 44 Fabian Wilnis got in the first decent Town cross of the match, but Van Der Saar dived to grab the ball from the feet of Jermaine Wright and Marcus Stewart as they ran in. Another this time mis-hit cross from Wilnis almost saw Sixto Peralta in as he used his strength to beat a couple of defenders on the edge of the area.

Boa Morte's poor afternoon was completed just before the break when he took a dive on the left side of the penalty area as Fabian Wilnis tackled him. Referee Riley produced a yellow and then a red card and Town's afternoon brightened considerably. The half-time break saw supporters far more upbeat than they would have been had the red card not have come.

George Burley clearly saw the ten men as there for the taking and brought on Martijn Reuser for Fabian Wilnis. Chris Makin went to right-back and Jamie Clapham to the left. Town started brightly, but still failed to reach their best. Holland sent a good chance well wide after being set up by Peralta. Two minute later Clapham hit a shot almost as wide.

On 54 Jermaine Wright made a good run into the box on the right, but the final ball wasn't found and Fulham escaped. A minute later though Wright scored the goal that levelled the game. Reuser turned Finnan down the left, got to the byline and banged over a deep cross. Peralta laid the ball off to Wright who made no mistake.

The next few minute saw Town looking something like their best, but they couldn't take advantage of their improved play and eventually Fulham came back into the game. The 58th minute had seen Alun Armstrong almost get on the end of a deep Reuser cross.

In the 59th minute Lewinski was booked for a foul on Holland, another challenge where the pitch had as much to do with it as the player.

Scorer Wright hit another shot wide before John McGreal made a good challenge on Hayles as the striker made a run into the Town box.

On 73 Magilton replaced the tiring Peralta. The youngster had had a good game, although showed a tendency to drift in and out of the game.

Matteo Sereni made his first save of the second half with 11 minutes left. Fulham sub Saha hit a shot from a few yards outside the area and the Italian dived to his right to push the ball away for a throw-in.

On 85 John Collins hit a shot over, but neither side was really creating much. Town's last chances came when Matt Holland, again very quiet, headed over from a Jamie Clapham cross before Rufus Brevett got himself booked for dissent and had a Town freekick moved ten yards nearer. Jamie Clapham took the freekick, the ball was knocked out and eventually John McGreal put a cross from the left behind the goal.

A better performance in very difficult conditions and a few reasons to be more cheerful. The defence rarely looked in as much trouble as they have in recent matches with the goal looking as if it was caused to some degree by the weather.

While some players still look well out of sorts, Holland and Stewart in particular, others are coming through and looking like they are excellent prospects for the rest of the season. Hreidarsson's move to the centre of defence also looked to be a good move.

Sereni, Wilnis (Reuser 46), Clapham, Hreidarsson, McGreal, Holland, Peralta (Magilton 73), George (Stewart 12), Clapham, Wright, Armstrong.

Att: 17,221


Photo: Action Images



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