Fulham 0-1 Hull City

The team named by Phil Brown looked very strong on paper; it had lots of energy, a threat from wide areas, two tricky strikers and a solid defensive spine. Kilbane replaced the suspended Dawson at left back and Ricketts, Gardner and Cousin returned, allowing Geovanni to move wide left and Zayatte into the centre of midfield. Despite worrying rumours to the contrary, Ashbee and Turner were fit to start. The first half was even with half chances at either end. The Tigers worked much harder off the ball to close Fulham down with Fagan and Cousin leading the charge. The two strikers put a lot of pressure on the ball, covered wide to ensure there were no easy out-balls and gave everyone else the encouragement to do the same. They forced the ball to go longer than Fulham would have liked and although Zamora and Johnson did a terrific job of battling for the ball, it gave us a good chance of winning everything that came forward. The hosts spurned the first chance of the game, Johnson heading wide in front of goal from a superb left wing cross. With Fulham failing to break through, we grew in confidence and looked to build on a fine start. When Mendy was awarded a soft free-kick, Geovanni almost capped that start with a goal. He lashed the free-kick inches wide of goal with Schwarzer scrambling. Simon Davies then toe-poked a shot over the bar after neat approach play from Zamora before Cousin headed over from a corner delivered by Geo. At the other end, Zamora skipped through our left hand side too easily but was denied a shot by a terrific tackle from Sam Ricketts. Fulham got in again down our left but the ball across goal evaded Johnson when he looked set for a tap in. Despite carrying a couple of passengers, City ended the half looking comfortable. We'd given the ball away too easily in the final third, allowing Fulham to come back at us far too often but we'd dealt pretty well with almost everything.

Fulham came out for the second half looking purposeful and took the game to the Tigers. For 25 minutes, we were under the cosh but Duke and Ricketts kept us in the game. We struggled to give Fagan and Cousin balls that they would hold onto, in fact, at times we failed to clear the ball further than 30 or 40 yards. As a result, the home side gained more and more momentum. Early in the half, a ball slid across goal from our left evaded everyone, somehow. Duke then tipped over Davies shot before another ball across goal from the left hand side found Dempsey at the back post for a tap in where Ricketts arrived from nowhere to make a superb tackle. Simon Davies the curled another shot towards the top corner. It was in all of the way, just like the Di Michele shot at West Ham that struck a post, but this time, Matt Duke stretched out his right hand and flicked the ball around the post. After they were gifted possession again, Konchesky hit a shot that Duke flicked over the bar. Mendy stood and invited Konchesky to shoot. He made up for it a few minutes later when he headed Johnson's header off the line. Next, a third ball across goal (again from our left) evaded everyone but the on rushing Dempsey at the far post. As he closed in for a certain goal and with Ricketts facing his own goal, our right back was somehow able to brush the ball with just enough force that it moved from Dempsey's path but didn't nestle in our goal. Incredible work. At half time, I'd felt that if we kept a clean sheet, we might win it. At that moment, I began to wonder if it was going to be our night. Fulham had created and missed 3 or 4 great chances and City were growing in self belief. In the last 15, we faced a deflected Zamora shot that Duke pushed around the post and several corners that caused Duke some grief due to the size of Hangeland in the middle. Otherwise, we were through the worst of Fulham's storm. Geovanni had been lively all night, cutting in form the left but as the game went on, he did so with alarming regularity, driving at them, at pace and with purpose and wonderful, Brazilian style. Zayatte, terrible for a long while, started to put his foot on the ball in midfield and drove at the heart of Fulham twice. Fagan had some joy pulling the ball down and running at them wide and substitute Manucho made a positive impact, especially in the air against Hangeland. Geovanni was causing them massive headaches and they resorted to blatantly fouling him and taking yellows for it. With five left, Browny sent on Garcia for Mendy to shore up the right hand side. Garcia's first touch was a volley at goal that ended up in row Z. He was in good company tonight, Ash, Zayatte and Geovanni had all hit shots high into the night sky. Three minutes of stoppage time was indicated by the fourth official, at which point, Browny put on Barmby for Geovanni, to waste a little time and to reward Geo for his efforts with a nice applause from the away fans and neutrals in the Putney End. We were happy with the point and killing time. It's a pity no-one told Richard Garcia. Two minutes into stoppage time. He picks the ball up just inside their half and shrugged off two challenges, driving at their defence. He's forced to move wide and an attempted tackle flicks up into his face and into space. He doesn't give up on the ball, picking it up, now wide on the left and drifts a delightful cross into the box. The ball moves in slow motion. Throughout the Putney End, heads turn slowly, following the flight of the ball and praying that someone has followed it. Manucho has, he arrives right on cue, unmarked and slides the ball past Schwarzer. Cue pandemonium and a one man pitch invasion. We've waited a while for this and it felt absolutely fantastic. We survived two corners as we entered the sixth of the three added minutes and it was all over.

Defensively, we looked very sound against the considerable threat of Zamora and Johnson. Their movement and strength was terrific but we coped well with it. Gardner was often fouled by Zamora without getting anything for it but kept plugging away, kept very tight to him and stopped him opening us up. Turner, presumably carrying some sort of knock, did pretty well. He was strong in the air but lost Johnson a couple of times around the box. When it came to sticking his body on line, he did everything he usually does. Like Sunday, he showed some signs of indiscipline, giving away too many free-kick's for grapping when he has it in him to win the ball cleanly. In his defense, also like Sunday, he was never given anything for the constant backing into him. Duke had a fine evening, handling well and making two good and one great save when called upon. He struggled at corners but anyone would with Hangeland hanging around them. He did as well as he could to get something on the ball in before the giant Norwegian. Kilbane was OK at left back. Too much came in down his side but some of that can be attributed to Geo not being the best defender in the world. He did look unsure of his positioning at times and barely put a tackle in. He was certain in his clearances which helped when we were under pressure. Ricketts had a fine defensive game, making three superb and vital challenges and, after the early Johnson chance, nothing came in from his side. On the ball, he was as poor in his distribution as everyone else. He wasn't helped by Mendy who did little to give him a decent passing option. Even so, he constantly failed to put the ball in areas where Cousin could fight for it.

The midfield as a unit looked much stronger as a defensive unit, mainly thanks to Ash and carried some threat, thanks to Geo. Without the ball, they were busy and worked hard to get into good positions. They were still flat, because Zayatte and Ash played side by side (at least they did when Zayatte wasn't wandering around in Ashbee's shadow) which gave Fulham free reign to collect the loose balls. Zayatte was really poor for 70 minutes, poor positioning, weak tackling and awful passing. However, after his hideous effort on goal, he calmed down somewhat, found his mates with his passes and in the last 10, looked to have more energy than anyone else in either midfield and so his running with the ball became a threat. Hopefully some of Boateng's experience and positional play can rub off on Kamil, because physically, he has everything Boateng doesn't at this stage in his career. Ashbee was superb again, another terrific display of holding and as the game went on, he took responsibility for trying to get around the box, hitting two shots, one into the Thames and one that he didn't quite catch that Schwarzer saved easily. He won a lot of tackles in the middle and passed sensibly. He made some terrific one touch tackle/passes that take the ball from the opposition and into the feet of one of ours to clear comfortably, all in one movement. Mendy was terrible. Aside from heading one off the line and winning a free-kick by throwing himself to the ground after he'd ran into a crowd of players for the first of about 500 times, he was poor. Phil Brown was probably right to leave him on because you always felt that if he could get a run on Konchesky, he'd make something happen. Plus, he was full of energy because he didn't do anything. He just didn't look up for it at all, he didn't close them down, he didn't move to make himself a target for passes and when he had the ball at his feet, he tried to take them on by running through them, like a clumsy 8 year old in a playground. On the opposite side, Geovanni had his best game in months. He was electric coming in off the touchline. He was direct, he looked quick, he had verve and the ball was stuck to his feet. They could only stop him by taking him down. He showed for the ball much more than he has recently and passed well, opening up space and delivering nice passes. Unfortunately, too often to Mendy, who then ran into a brick wall. Barmby barely had time to impress, Garcia didn't have much more but made a terrific impression. All of those Aussies in the "Neutral" stand will have enjoyed Richie's cameo.

Up front, Fagan and Cousin worked hard off the ball and set the tempo and an example for everyone else. Fagan is tireless and was still harassing at the end. When they had the ball, they worked it well but overall, they didn't see enough of it in the right areas. Hangeland is massive but you felt that if we could get the ball into Cousin's feet, he would be tricky enough to trouble him. Fagan did start to see more of the ball as thew game went on and did a fine job of laying it off or attacking in the channels. Manucho looked a handful when he came on. I was ready to say nice things about him even before he scored his goal. He caused a problem for Hangeland, worked well with his back to goal and gave us a rush of energy and endeavor up front when they were looking tired.

If we'd played all of our games in London this season, we'd be looking forward to Champions League football in July! 3 wins and 1 draw from 5 games is a phenomenal return from our grubby capital. In all of the worry of late, it's easy to forget that we've only lost 4 of 13 away games in the league, also phenomenal. The side tonight looked much more balanced and it played out that way. There still wasn't enough form the centre of midfield and despite having two pacy, tricky forwards, we didn't utilise them well enough at all. Still, this was the sort of hard earned win you need at the business end of the season. If you keep clean sheets, you'll always have a good chance of nicking something. As with certain times earlier in the season, we tucked away the only really good chance we created. Again, if you do that, you'll win games. We've put ourselves back on the right footing now. 2 or 3 more wins will seal the deal.

Ratings: Duke 8, Ricketts 8, Kilbane 6, Turner 6, Gardner 7, Mendy 5 (Garcia), Geovanni 8 (Barmby), Zayatte 6, Ashbee 9, Cousin 6 (Manucho), Fagan 7.