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Fulham beat the away-day hoodoo

last updated Saturday 29th April 2006, 5:42 PM

Fulham scored two goals in the last five minutes to end their long wait for a Premiership away victory as they beat Manchester City 2-1 at Eastlands.

The Cottagers had failed on 17 occasions to pick up three points on the road since their 3-1 win at Blackburn almost a year ago, but Collins John and then Steed Malbranque struck to give them a victory they scarcely deserved.

City had grown in stature after a sluggish start, and dominated the game in the second half, when Richard Dunne appeared to have given them the points with a fine 69th minute goal.

But Luis Boa Morte engineered an equaliser for John, and then as City poured forward in search of a winner he led a swift counter-attack to play in Malbranque for the winner.

Fulham almost took the lead in the second minute through Liam Rosenior, but his low shot from Heidar Helguson's cut-back went inches wide of the far post.

City responded well, but Antoine Sibierski, preferred to Georgios Samaras after a strong performance at Aston Villa in midweek, missed four good chances to put them ahead before the break.

After a weak left-footed shot, he twice failed to hit the target with headers and then when he took the ball down well on the edge of the six-yard box he could only shoot straight at Antti Niemi in the Fulham goal.

Fulham also created chances on the break, with Simon Elliott drawing a fine one-handed save from David James with a stinging left-foot shot.

Brian McBride headed over from Rosenior's cross and then dragged a shot into the side-netting as neither side could break the deadlock before the interval.

City were in command from the start of the second half, with Darius Vassell just unable to turn Sibierski's pass beyond Niemi and then failing to get a toe to Albert Riera's driven cross.

Micah Richards headed narrowly wide from a corner, but it was the teenage defender's ability in the air which created the goal for Dunne, as he headed down Joey Barton's free kick and Dunne lashed in a half volley from close range.

Samaras almost made it two when he turned away from two defenders before shooting just wide of the far post, before Fulham equalised in the 85th minute when Boa Morte held off a challenge from Richards and pulled the ball back for John, who stabbed in a shot off the foot of a post.

Moments later, Samaras was denied a winner for City after the best move of the match. The Greek striker dummied a low ball and then ran on to Trevor Sinclair's flick, before lifting a delicate shot over Niemi only to see Rosenior head the ball over from just underneath the crossbar.

It was a brilliant intervention from the impressive Fulham defender and came just seconds before the visitors swept up the field to score their winner.

Source Andy Clarke at SkySport
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