Southampton (1) 1 Fulham (1) 1
This may not have been one of Fulham's prettiest performances of the season but
no one connected with Jean Tigana's side will care about that. After six straight
league defeats and 15 goals conceded, the FA Cup semi-finalists at last ended
their dismal Premiership run with a point that could prove priceless come mid-May.
The statistics showed that Fulham had not won in the league at Southampton for
67 years and how badly the Cottagers needed that run to end in the first meeting
between the sides at St Mary's.
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Fulham Manager Jean Tigana will be happy to have stopped the rot
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With his team plunging into free-fall, manager Jean Tigana restored Welsh captain
Andy Melville to his starting line-up in order to add some much-needed steel to
the defence while Jason Dodd and Rory Delap returned for the Saints.
Within seven minutes, Southampton were behind courtesy of a horrible error
by goalkeeper Paul Jones.
Sylvain Legwinski played a hopeful ball into the box and instead of collecting
it comfortably, the cap-less Jones, who may have had the sun in his eyes, was
guilty of a dreadful fumble as he allowed Steve Marlet to tap into an empty
net. Three minutes later, with his side still shell-shocked, Jones partially
atoned for his mistake by keeping out a Barry Hayles effort with his legs.
It was just the start Fulham needed but as so often in recent weeks, they could
not sustain it. On 21 minutes, St Mary's celebrated a wonderful equaliser. Skipper
Jason Dodd played a dangerous ball over the top of Fulham's defence and Delap,
with superb control, lashed it into the net.
| Match Stats |
Soton |
Fulham |
| Goal attempts |
11 |
7 |
| On Target |
6 |
2 |
| Hit woodwork |
1 |
1 |
| Fouls |
12 |
17 |
| Offsides |
5 |
3 |
| Corners |
6 |
7 |
| Yellows |
1 |
1 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source:
www.sports.com |
For the rest of the half, it was end-to-end entertainment, aided by a comedy of
defensive errors, and Hayles must be wondering how he failed to restore Fulham's
lead instead of being forced wide with the goal at his mercy.
Both defences tightened up considerably after the break as the game moved into
a more cautious phase. A couple of well-timed runs by the under-rated Matt Oakley
almost opened the door for Southampton while Fulham's Sean Davis shot over the
crossbar.
The dark-suited Gordon Strachan, gesticulating as passionately as ever in the
dug-out, watched nervously as his team threatened to concede too much possession.
With 20 minutes left, in a bold attempt to take all three points, Tigana sent
on two strikers in Louis Saha and Luis Boa Morte, the latter playing against
his old club. Strachan responded immediately by replacing Pahars and Anders
Svensson with Jo Tessem and Kevin Davies and it was this pairing that almost
won the game with 12 minutes remaining. Tessem's glorious pass ripped through
the centre of Fulham's back line and Davies thumped his shot against a post.
A winner then for Southampton, who are becoming the Premiership's draw specialists,
would have been hard on the visitors. Out of danger Fulham most certainly are
not, but for once they proved they could scrap as well as strut.
Southampton: Jones, Dodd, Lundekvam, Williams, Bridge, Delap, Oakley,
Telfer, Svensson (Tessem 73), Pahars (Davies 74), Ormerod.
Subs not used: Moss, Fernandes, Monk.
Booked: Delap.
Goals: Delap 22.
Fulham: Van der Sar, Finnan, Goma, Melville, Brevett, Collins (Harley
84), Davis (Saha 71), Legwinski, Malbranque, Hayles (Boa Morte 72), Marlet.
Subs not used: Taylor, Knight.
Booked: Brevett(44, UB)
Goals: Marlet 7.
Att: 31,616 Ref: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
Source S. Telegraph by Andrew Warshaw