Fulham 1-2 Town - Match Report Tuesday, 15th Dec 2015 21:47 Freddie Sears and Brett Pitman were on target as Town beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage to win a fourth away league game on the trot for first time in more than 11 years. Sears netted after 16 seconds as the Blues made an explosive start, before Cottagers’ skipper Ross McCormack equalised with a freekick in the 14th minute, but Pitman secured the points when he turned in Sears’s cross on 57. Town’s starting XI was unchanged for the fourth successive game, while Kevin Bru and Tommy Oar returned to the bench after hamstring and groin injuries respectively, but David McGoldrick dropped out due to injury. Jay Tabb also missed out on a place in the 18. For Fulham, former Blues loanee Richard Stearman started on the right of a back three. In last season’s corresponding fixture, Town went in front after five minutes. This time around they needed only 16 seconds to grab the lead. Sears latched on to a Daryl Murphy knockdown on the left just inside the Fulham half and burst past several defenders before shooting low to keeper Andy Lonergan’s left and into the corner of the net for his sixth goal of the season. Having gone in front Town continued to take the game to the home side and in the ninth minute they were within a whisker of making it 2-0. Following a series of Fulham mis-clearances, Ainsley Maitland-Niles found himself some space on the edge of the box before unleashing a strike which beat Lonergan but hit the bar. The Blues remained encamped inside the Fulham half and on 11, after Town had won corners, Jonas Knudsen hit a shot which deflected away from goal and was again unconvincingly cleared by the shambolic Cottagers’ backline, who appeared to be struggling to get used to their revised formation. But on 15 the home side levelled via their first shot of the game. Knudsen fouled Alexander Kacaniklic 30 yards out and skipper McCormack smashed a low freekick which skimmed across the sodden turf and into the right corner of Dean Gerken’s net. It was a great strike but hardly a deserved equaliser on the balance of the first quarter hour which had been dominated by the Blues. After Gerken had claimed a Fulham corner, Cole Skuse played Sears in on the left of the Fulham area but the former Colchester man’s strike flew just over. At the other end, McCormack cut in from the left but shot high and wide. On 29 a Skuse shot deflected through to Lonergan, a Town target during Jim Magilton’s time in charge. As the half moved into its final quarter hour the Blues began to regain their early level of control. Pitman almost played in Sears - who was by now operating on the right - with a clever reverse pass, then Douglas screwed a shot wide. Maitland-Niles, now on the left, brought the ball inside in the 34th minute and took it to the edge of the box unchallenged before hitting a low shot which Lonergan saved down to his right. Town continued to have most of the ball in the closing minutes of the half but without testing the Cottagers’ keeper further. Having made a superb start via Sears’s excellent opening minute goal, the Blues dominated the early stages and could well have added to their lead with Maitland-Niles unfortunate to hit the woodwork. Fulham’s leveller came entirely against the run of play, although it was a great strike from McCormack, and for a spell after the goal the game was more even. But the Blues were again well in charge - with Sears and Maitland-Niles both looking dangerous when running at the home defence - as referee Trevor Kettle’s whistle signalled the end of the half. Town were forced into a substitution at half-time with Skuse making way for Bru, back after his recent hamstring injury. The Blues weren’t far from a second goal less than a minute after the restart. With the rain once again falling heavily, Tommy Smith flicked on Knudsen’s long throw from the left and Murphy almost got a touch before Lonergan claimed. At the other end, Kacaniklic shot over from distance, then with the home fans starting to get behind their side, Berra blocked from Dembele after the striker had been found in space on the left of the box. On 53, following a corner on the Town left, Maitland-Niles exchanged passes with Murphy on the edge of the box but hit his shot over. It had been a more evenly contested second half in the opening stages in the 58th minute the Blues regained their lead. Sears whipped over a low cross from the left and Pitman got ahead of his defender to turn home his seventh goal of the campaign at the near post before celebrating with the massed ranks of the 2,500 fans behind the goal. McCormack lashed wildly deep into the stand behind the Town goal shortly before his side made a double switch, Emerson Hyndman and Matt Smith taking over from Jamie O’Hara and Tom Cairney. The Blues defended first a freekick and then a couple of corners as Fulham looked to use sub Smith’s height to cause the Blues a new problem. On 69 the 6ft 6in tall frontman stooped to head a cross from the left wide. Town switched things around in the 71st minute with Pitman replaced by Piotr Malarczyk as the Blues moved to three centre-halves to counteract the additional threat presented by Smith. Murphy was now up front on his own. Despite the strengthened backline, Smith escaped the attentions of his markers on 74 and reached Jazz Richards’s right-wing cross but headed it well wide. A minute later, the again hugely impressive Sears cut in from the left and smashed a superb shot which flew only inches past Lonergan’s left post and wide. Fulham made their final sub moments later with Cauley Woodrow replacing Kacaniklic. Bru shot wide from just outside the area with the Blues now happy to let Fulham take the game to them but with Town looking the more likely scorers when breaking. Christophe Berra did well on 80 to get a toe in to block as Dembele turned a cross from the right goalwards, then from the corner Fulham’s Smith rose highest but nodded over the bar. Jonny Parr replaced Maitland-Niles as the game moved into its 89th minute with Fulham pressing but without significantly testing Gerken. The home side continued to send balls into the Town box during three minute of injury time, keeper Lonergan joined the attack for a corner but the Blues weren’t to be denied a fourth away league win in row for the first time since a similar streak in March and April 2004 when they beat Walsall, Wimbledon, Rotherham and Gillingham. Having started brilliantly, the Blues could have been at least two goals in front during the opening quarter of an hour before they were pegged back by McCormack’s excellent freekick. Town remained the more threatening side after the break and once Pitman had scored his goal, the Blues repelled everything Fulham threw at them - which in truth wasn’t very much - to see out another excellent away win. The result sees the Blues stay sixth in the table ahead of Saturday’s home game against third-placed Derby County, who beat Bristol City 4-0 at the iPro Stadium this evening. Fulham: Lonergan, Richards, Stearman, Burn, Ream, Garbutt, Kacaniklic (Woodrow 76), Cairney (Smith 67), O’Hara (Hyndman 67), McCormack (c), Dembele. Unused: Lewis, Hutchinson, Fredericks, Woodrow, Pringle. Town: Gerken, Knudsen, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Skuse (Bru 46), Douglas, Maitland-Niles (Parr 89), Sears, Murphy, Pitman (Malarczyk 71). Unused: Bialkowski, Fraser, Oar, Coke. Referee: Trevor Kettle (Rutland). Att: 15,245.
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