| Premiership - Sunday January 19, 2003 |
| Fulham |
(1) 1 - 0 (0) |
Middlesbrough |
| Davis (39) |
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Fulham gained some short-term comfort to offset their long-term anxieties yesterday when a goal from Sean Davis brought Jean Tigana's side their first win in five Premiership matches and lifted them eight points clear of the bottom three.
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Fulham midfielder Sean Davis stars |
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It was largely a case of a team who may soon have no home to go to beating opponents going nowhere away from home. For Middlesbrough this was an eighth successive league defeat on the road, and they have now not scored away in the Premiership for 12 hours.
At least Boro have a ground to call their own. Grateful though Fulham supporters were for this win, the small group that mounted a polite but persistent demonstration outside the ground in protest at plans to sell Craven Cottage to developers could hardly have been mollified by the response of the chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed.
Writing in the match programme, Al Fayed made no reference to the possible sale but did declare that he was not prepared to bankroll the club indefinitely. He might have deep pockets, he said, "but I am not a fool with my money and to continue pouring funds into Fulham for very little financial return is nothing short of folly."
Financially, he insisted, Fulham had to become "leaner and fitter". He had spent £100m getting them into the Premiership although " Whatever is genuinely needed to maintain our Premiership status and continue our progress towards my dream of making this one of Britain's biggest clubs will be provided but financially we must become a leaner fitter club".
After a week of such uncertainty it was important for Fulham to win, and for any team in such a position a home fixture against Middlesbrough is a godsend. At the Riverside Boro are a potent if not omnipotent force, but once they leave it their football loses shape and confidence.
Middlesbrough's manager, Steve McClaren, is not one of the game's dissemblers. "I can't defend the players," he said afterwards. "It was poor, it was not good enough and Fulham deserved to win."
Few neutrals would have given him an argument there. Until Davis scored seven minutes before half-time Fulham's football was almost as equally ragged and tentative, but once ahead the confidence flowed into their play and but for Mark Schwarzer's goalkeeping and the crossbar, the win would have been even more emphatic.
It took Fulham half an hour to realise that vague long balls from the back were only going to play to the strength of Middlesbrough's central defenders. Facundo Sava might outjump Gareth Southgate and Tony Vidmar but Boro dealt with the Argentinian effectively, and the difficulty Sava had finding the target did not suggest Fulham would take an early lead.
Once Davis and Sylvain Legwinski began to advance regularly from midfield things changed and midway through the first half, after a handful of attacks, Fulham began to sense a goal. Two more near-misses and then they were ahead in the 38th minute. A quick through ball from Legwinski caught Middlesbrough square and disorganised. and Davis strode through to clip the ball past Schwarzer.
Despite Middlesbrough's away run, Fulham's lead began to look fragile as half-time approached. In the 41st minute Maik Taylor misread a long, high ball from Southgate which bounced over the goalkeeper and was heading towards the net until Martin Djétou cleared it.
Had Massimo Maccarone not blocked Steed Malbranque's shot by the near post Fulham would have increased their lead two minutes into the second half, and just past the hour a header from Sava rebounded from the bar. The introduction of Joseph-Désiré Job and Szilard Nemeth to McClaren's attack gave Boro a marginally weightier presence, but their finishing still lacked conviction.
This was only Fulham's third victory in 15 league matches and upcoming encounters with Manchester City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and, crucially, West Bromwich will test the currency of their latest revival. Meanwhile they are still a long, long way from home.
Man of the match Sean Davis
His forward runs helped turn the match in his team's favour and ultimately secured them the points. Best moment The England Under-21 midfielder's goal, which came at a crucial time and in critical circumstances.
Fulham
Taylor; Brevett, Finnan, Goma; Davis, Goldbaek, Legwinski, Malbranque; Djetou, Sava; Marlet.
Middlesbrough
Schwarzer; Southgate; Greening, Parnaby, Wilson; Geremi, Maccarone, Queudrue, Vidmar, Wilkshire (Job); Whelan (Nemeth).
Referee: Halsey, M (Lancashire)
Attendance: 14,253
Bookings
Fulham: None
Middlesbrough: Southgate (68)
Sent off
None