FA Cup - Sunday 08th March 2026, 12:00 PM
Fulham0
(0)
-
(0)
1
Southampton
Attendance: 21974
Referee: Jarred Gillett (Australia)
Match events
Iwobi
65
Cairney
65
71
Bragg
71
Jander
71
Stewart
71
Larin
73
Downes (f)
Cuenca (f)
82
82
Matsuki
82
Fellows
82
Edozie
82
Scienza
King
89
Smith Rowe
89
91
Stewart pen
Jimenez
92
Reed
92
93
Azaz
96
Matsuki (f)
Chukwueze (f)
98
Match review
Match Report
Fulham (0) 0-1 (0) Southampton
FA Cup 5th Round 25/26 at Craven Cottage
Sunday 8th March KO: 12:00
Referee:
Jarred Gillett (Australia)
Live on TNT Sports 2
|
Ross Stewart’s stoppage time penalty saw Fulham exit the Emirates FA Cup at the hands of Southampton.
The Whites had all the ball and the greater number of chances, though the visitors did carry plenty of threat on the occasions they did manage to break our lines.
Fulham had two goals disallowed in the game. The latter one from Timothy Castagne was certainly correct, but hopefully some clarification will emerge post-match as to why Rodrigo Muniz was denied in the first half.
| Match Stats |
Fulham |
Southampton |
| Goals |
(0) 0 |
1 (0) |
|
| Scorers |
- |
Stewart pen 90+1 |
| , |
| Goal attempts |
24 |
5 |
| On target |
6 |
3 |
| Shooting Accuracy |
25% |
60% |
| Possession |
68% |
32% |
| Passes |
536 |
208 |
| Passes Success |
89% |
74% |
| Crosses |
32 |
13 |
| Crosses Success |
25% |
8% |
| Corners |
15 |
4 |
| Tackles |
13 |
17 |
| Tackles Success |
62% |
53% |
| Saves |
2 |
6 |
| Fouls |
8 |
10 |
| Offsides |
2 |
5 |
| Yellows |
2 |
3 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source: SkySports |
The key moment of the tie came at the death when Joachim Andersen caught Finn Azaz in the area, with Stewart blasting home a gutwrenching penalty to end our cup hopes for another season.
Southampton began the game with the confidence of a side who are unbeaten in nine, but it was Fulham who had the game’s first effort when Andersen’s header was caught by Daniel Peretz – a chance that came from a corner won courtesy of a dazzling Oscar Bobb run.
Bobb took control of proceedings again on 13 minutes when some space opened up for him inside the penalty area, but Peretz got down to claim his low curling effort.
We had begun to up the ante, and next had three efforts inside 10 seconds, with Ryan Sessegnon and Bobb seeing shots blocked, before Tom Cairney volleyed wide from 20 yards.
Fulham had the ball in the net in the 19th minute when Muniz popped home after Peretz had smashed his goal-kick into teammate Ryan Manning, but it was not allowed to stand, causing much confusion in the ground.
When we looked to keep the pressure on with another corner, Saints won possession and countered quickly with Leo Scienza who ran half the length of the pitch and got beyond the last man to find himself one-on-one with Benjamin Lecomte, only to poke his shot wide of the far post.
Andersen met another Harrison Reed corner as we approached the half hour mark, looking to squeeze his header inside the near post, but a combination of Peretz and Nathan Wood denied him.
We kept the pressure on with a couple more corners in quick successful. Muniz’s header from the first hit an arm which VAR deemed accidental, before Samuel Chukwueze rifled a shot at Peretz when the ball broke to him from our subsequent set-piece.
The Whites started the second half on the front foot and carved out an early opening when Timothy Castagne was released down the right which allowed him to clip a cross into Muniz. He attacked the ball well but sent his header a yard over.
Reed then sent a humdinger down the throat of Peretz, but the on-loan Bayern Munich stopper was equal to the strike.
10 minutes into the second half we had another goal ruled out for offside. Andersen had gone too early in meeting Reed’s free-kick, and so Castagne’s finish was redundant when he bundled in the rebound as Peretz spilled.
Saints’ first effort on target arrived as the hour mark approached, but Lecomte saved well with his feet from Tom Fellows.
Alex Iwobi was introduced and made a swift impact, playing a smart one-two with Bobb before finding Muniz, who sent a rising snapshot narrowly over the angle of post and crossbar.
Despite seeing little of the ball, Southampton looked a threat when they did attack, and Azaz thought he’d scored when his shot took a big deflection off Cuenca and looked certain to loop over Lecomte and into the net, only for the Frenchman to make a fabulous save at full stretch to tip it onto the bar.
Castagne was unfortunate not to score at the Cottage on Wednesday night, and he was unlucky again with quarter of an hour to play, with his first time effort on his weaker left foot bending agonisingly away from the far post.
His opposite full-back Sessegnon then rifled in a venomous strike from Emile Smith Rowe’s pick-out, but Taylor Harwood-Bellis made a heroic block to divert it over.
Bobb wanted a penalty when his ankles were chopped at by James Bree in the box, but referee Jarred Gillett saw no infringement.
Sessegnon was making some superb attacking runs and another one with five minutes to play saw him picked out by Smith Rowe again, but Peretz made a stunning save – albeit not one he knew loads about – with his face to keep the tie goalless.
Southampton won it at the death when Azaz was caught by Andersen in the 90th minute, with Gillett immediately blowing for a spot-kick, which Stewart dispatched with aplomb past Lecomte, who had dived the right way.
Fulham boss Marco Silva speaking to TNT Sports::
"Completely disappointing result and afternoon for us, for the football club and for the fans mainly. [They] are going to be the ones that are going to suffer because the expectations, as always, were very high.
"[It's a] moment for us to look for ourselves definitely, because it was not good enough.
"We can talk about many, many, many things. It's probably not the moment for me to be here to talk about that situation.
"Basically, a really, really bad day for us that has to make us look inside of ourselves and move on.
"We are going to have another game, you have to really say that was not good enough from us. We can talk about the command of the game, we can talk about many, many things
"It's really for us to look at and to improve but I think it's much more than that, and you have to look deeper."
'Draining and uninspiring' -
Officiating another topic of debate for Fulham
Sky Sports' Patrick Rowe:
Marco Silva was not a frustrated figure in his post-match interview; he was a deflated one.
"I didn't get an explanation," he replied bluntly when asked about Fulham's disallowed goal in the first half.
The Fulham boss is tired of discussing controversial refereeing decisions. In his defence, so am I.
The incident leading to Rodrigo Muniz's disallowed goal was comical but somehow it was made even worse by Jarred Gillett's early whistle, which meant VAR could not intervene.
A premature stoppage in play, which wasn't the only one in the game, and then a soft penalty decision in the dying embers led to a shock defeat for his side.
Sadly for Fulham, it's just the latest officiating mishap in a season that has been littered with them. I was at Stamford Bridge for Josh King's disallowed goal in August and I covered the 1-0 loss to West Ham on Wednesday. Man Utd's equaliser at Craven Cottage was another one.
Fulham: Lecomte, Castagne, Andersen, Cuenca, Sessegnon, Reed (Jimenez 92), Cairney (Iwobi 65), Bobb, Smith Rowe (King 89), Chukwueze, R Muniz
Unused substitutes: Leno, Tete, Bassey, Berge, Lukic, Robinson
Yellow Card: Cuenca (f,62), Chukwueze (f,98)
Southampton: : Peretz, Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Manning, Downes, Jander (Bragg 71), Fellows (Matsuki 82), Azaz, Scienza (Edozie 82), Larin (Stewart 71)
Unused substitutes: Quarshie, Archer, Long, Romeu, Jelert
Goals:
Stewart pen 90+1 (converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner. Penalty conceded by Joachim Andersen (Fulham) after a foul in the penalty area.)
Yellow Card: Downes (f,73), Azaz (93), Matsuki (f,96)
Referee:
Jarred Gillett (Australia)
Attendance: 21,974
Fulham are next in action against Nottingham Forest at The City Ground on Sunday 15th of March at 14.00 live on SkySports.