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Super substitute Neal Maupay’s stoppage-time strike broke Fulham hearts and sent Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Premier League during a tense west London derby. Fulham’s unbeaten streak remains intact but crucially, they’ve lost ground on Cardiff in the race for automatic promotion.
May 18, 2018. Highly-rated forward Ryan Sessegnon’s 18th birthday, which falls just eight days before this season’s Championship play-off final is set to take place at Wembley.
Continue reading “Ryan Sessegnon helping fuel Fulham’s promotion push”
Bolton Wanderers, Fulham and Nottingham Forest have all been handed respective transfer embargoes – meaning they’ll be unable to sign any players until the end of the current campaign.
As well as those three Championship sides, Bournemouth – who won the league last term – will be financially sanctioned as their level of spending exceeded the maximum £6million permitted. This means that clubs are not allowed to spend more than £6million of what they generate in total revenue, otherwise known as ‘maximum deviation’.
The Cherries’ punishment is the most severe because, their spending gave them a competitive advantage in helping them get promoted into the Premier League.
The other three sides is less because, all remained in England’s second division and as a result, will be unable to sign (on a permanent basis) players in the upcoming January transfer window. They are though, allowed to sign players on loan deals whilst other stipulations apply in regards to transfer fees and wages.
Bolton failed to submit their required accounts, and will not be able to complete transfers until they comply with the FFP obligations. They are also in a whopping amount of debt currently, £172.9million pounds to be precise, and publicly stated their confidence that they’ll be able to achieve FFP.
However, they admitted that they would be unable to sign and submit their accounts until the “short and longer term funding issues the club are currently facing are resolved.”
Premier League leaders Leicester are rumoured to be one of the clubs who are in discussions with the Football League over their FFP submissions, whilst Queen’s Park Rangers could feel the force of a significant sanction as they breached FFP rules themselves two seasons ago.
A hefty fine of up to £58million pounds is being spoken about, and the west Londoners will be eagerly hoping they avoid that once the decision is finalised.
Freddie Sears and Brett Pitman confined the hosts to defeat number eight in the League already this term, as managerless Fulham continue to flirt with midtable mediocrity and the relegation zone a few points below them.
Ipswich Town maintained their stance as play-off hopefuls with a narrow, but deserved 2-1 victory away at Craven Cottage.
Freddie Sears broke the deadlock after just eighteen seconds, driving forward from kick-off and firing goalwards from the edge of the area. Experienced goalkeeper Andy Lonergan had barely adjusted in time, but it was already too late. A goal down within the first minute, just typified Fulham‘s current problems.
Recently managerless after the sacking of Kit Symons, they always look threatening on the counter-attack. Defensively, they seem virtually the opposite. Vulnerable and easy to exploit as a result.
Ross McCormack levelled the scoring shortly afterward, with a fantastic long-range effort from a free-kick. The 29-year-old Scotsman, who leads the club’s scoring charts with twelve goals in all competitions, must have been feeling frustrating as his teammates were being cut open at will off-the-ball.
Young Arsenal loanee, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, saw a dipping effort crash off the crossbar – before Sears had an opportunity to double his tally for the evening, which flashed over the crossbar.
Sears turned provider, fizzing in a dangerous cross toward the near post for Brett Pitman to slot home neatly unopposed. He did so, and the 27-year-old netted his second strike in consecutive games after a similar finish against MK Dons on the weekend.
Maitland-Niles was a constant nuisance for the Fulham backline to defend against, using his pace and flair to good effect – you couldn’t predict where he’d go next.
Plenty of substitutions were made by either side as the clock ticked down, and despite another few half-chances – especially from sub Matt Smith – the Cottagers were unable to find the equaliser in time.
Their winless run extends to seven games, and the future is increasingly uncertain for an out-of-sorts Fulham side, who certainly need to show more desire if they are to finish the season strongly in the New Year.
Read below, for the match report – written by myself; who was at Craven Cottage personally to watch the action unfold.
Fulham conjured up a spirited display at home on Good Friday, but it was not enough as they capitulated in the dying stages of the second-half, conceding twice in quick succession to sum up a frustrating afternoon in west London. They lost 4-1 against promotion hopefuls Brentford, which was surprising after their encouraging start from the referee’s first whistle.
Swedish winger Alex Kacanklic came close in the first few minutes of the game, using his electric pace to speed past his marker on the flank before his resulting shot at the near post was beaten away by Brentford ‘keeper David Button.
Brentford’s on-loan creative midfielder Alex Pritchard, of Premier League side Tottenham, was pulling the strings in midfield for the visitors, and his silky dribbling and quick footwork were too much to handle for the hosts who struggled to contain him throughout the sixty minutes he played, just days after representing the England U21’s twice in quick succession with victories over Czech Republic and Germany this past week.
For all of Fulham’s pressure in the early going of the game they had nothing to show for it, and after twenty minutes on the clock, the score was still goal-less. However, they’d kept an organised Brentford side at bay, a team desperately fighting for their promotion hopes – something encouraging in itself. A cagey affair which livened up as The Cottagers gained momentum, the first blow was hit in the 24th minute as Stuart Dallas‘ low strike flew beyond the Fulham defenders on the edge of the area and past Marcus Bettinelli into the bottom corner of the net.
Kacanklic had a curling effort on the edge of the box swerve just over the top of the crossbar, with Button attemping to make an acrobatic dive to stop the fierce strike from beating him into the top corner – what a goal it would have been. Brentford’s clinical nature in-front of goal was emphasised early in the second-half, as Dallas combined with Andre Gray before striking a vicious effort which arrowed into the corner of the net from an effective counter attack.
Fulham were handed a lifeline and an unlikely pathway back into the match with just over twenty minutes left to play – James Husband was brought down inside the box under the sliding challenge from Toumani Diagouraga, who was eager to prove his innocence, but the damage was already done. Ross McCormack stood up to the resulting penalty-kick, powerfully slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the net, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way in the process. It was 2-1 and certainly game on, just minutes after Gray had a golden chance to all but seal an away victory for Brentford, sending his strike from close range over the bar.
Matt Smith came on as a substitute late on as Kit Symons knew something had to change for his side to get an equaliser, but came agonisingly close with a lofted chip over the ‘keeper on the counter attack, which trickled just wide of the far post – much to the dispair of Fulham fans behind the goal, who could not believe how unlucky they were. Then, he was controversially denied a penalty decision after being tumbled over by the last Brentford defender.
In the dying minutes, with time running out, Fulham kept up the pressure and their home supporters were pushing them forward in hope of getting an equaliser. A well-executed free-kick from 23 yards out by Alan Judge swerved over the wall and dipped in off the crossbar; Bettinelli was left stranded and could simply do nothing to stop the strike. Then, to add salt into the wounds, they made it 4-1 after a well-taken strike rifled into the top corner courtesy of Jota in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
That victory seals Brentford’s first league double over Fulham since 1992, meaning they’ve still got a genuine chance of promotion to the top-flight of English football. They’ve moved up into 5th place, six points behind league leaders Middlesbrough who won 1-0 at home against Wigan Athletic in their game.
As for Fulham, despite their encouraging start to the game, they capitulated towards the end and their lack of a clinical finish cost them dearly. They are only seven points clear of the dreaded relegation drop in 20th place, and will be hoping for an improved response with six matches left to play.
Mark Warburton – Brentford manager: “It’s so, so tight. We cannot worry about other teams, our focus has to be Brentford Football Club. We’ve got six games to go now, eighteen points to play for, so another tough test on Monday against Nottingham Forest; they come thick and fast.”
Kit Symons – Fulham manager: “Obviously the first two goals, need to get out… and close people down, but two good strikes from their point of view, but should have been closed down. It’s taking your chances when you’re on top, first-half I thought we were the better side but, you need to, score goals and take your chances when you are on top in games.“
Mo and Sports 