Fulham were forced to endure an afternoon of acute frustration after a doughty
Derby County held out for a goalless draw at Craven Cottage.
The home side will have taken high expectations in to their first top-flight
meeting with Derby since 1952 following their mid-week victory over
Sunderland.
And The Cottagers were given a further boost with the late news that Derby
were missing two star men through injury, striker Fabrizio Ravanelli and
goalkeeper Mart Poom.
But Derby held firm despite rarely venturing out of their half in the second
period when Jean Tigana's men threw everything they had at their understrength
visitors only to find stand-in Rams goalkeeper Andy Oakes in excellent form.
The Fulham fans were given an early warning of things to come when Barry
Hayles used his power to surge to the by-line only to see his low cross
evade Louis Saha at the far post.
Derby - with only one win in their last 13 matches - did threaten briefly
in the first half, though only when manager Jim Smith made a tactical switch
after replacing Malcolm Christie with Georgie Kinkladze after only 37 minutes.
The mesmeric Georgian was immediately in to the action, his trademark shimmy
creating some space at the edge of the box before he curled a left-footed
shot just wide of the far post.
And the former Manchester City midfielder slipped in Paul Boertien just
before half-time, though his drive was beaten away by Edwin Van de Sar in
the Fulham goal.
But that was about the extent of the Dutch goalkeeper's involvement in the
match, with the second half very much one-way traffic on a hot and sunny
day in South London.
The visitors resorted to getting as many men behind the ball as possible
and relying on Kinkladze's dribbles on their rare counter-attacks.
A series of half-chances from free-kicks and corners went begging for the
home side as wave after wave crashed against the Derby shoreline, which
was superbly held together by an outstanding performance by Chris Riggott.
The young centre-half was the Ram's storm barrier, throwing himself in front
of everything that came his way as the frustration began to build inside
fans and players.
But for all their possession and bluster, Fulham created little in the way
of clear-cut chances until late in the match when Steed Malbranque found
himself in the clear with four minutes remaining.
But he over-ran the ball and Oakes was able to gather safely to thwart another
attack.
Fulham:
Van der Sar, Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Malbranque, Collins (Harley 67),
Goldbaek (Legwinski 66), Davis, Goma (Symons 15), Saha, Hayles.
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Betsy.
Booked: Goldbaek, Saha.
Derby:
Oakes, O'Neil, Boertien, Riggott, Higginbotham, Mawene (Murray 84), Johnson,
Powell, Burley, Burton, Christie (Kinkladze 37).
Subs Not Used: Grant, Morris, Daino.
Booked: Burley, Kinkladze, Higginbotham.
Ref: M Dean (The Wirral).
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