The Southampton fans who started taunting Fulham with chants of 'You're only here for one season' were strangely quiet by the end of this game. Fulham will not do much, but they should stay up in their first season in the Premiership, while Southampton's position is looking far from secure. Wins for Derby County and Leicester City today will put them bottom of the table.
The form book suggested that this would be a bit of a slog, with both teams desperate for points but without the obvious goalscoring prowess to get them out of trouble. And so it was that neither team looked capable of threatening for much of the first half, sending the crowd into slumber mode on a balmy afternoon by the Thames.
Then, for no apparent reason, the teams went relatively goal crazy, with the ball hitting the net three times in the space of eight minutes. Fulham, who had been on top and by far the more adventurous team, took the lead in the 25th minute through attacking French midfielder Steed Malbranque. The ever eager Barry Hayles made it possible with a strong run into the area and his shot popped up off goalkeeper Paul Jones, was headed towards goal by Steve Marlet and Malbranque turned the ball into an empty net from a couple of yards.
Southampton, without a shot of any note beforehand, were level seven minutes later when James Beattie beat the offside trap to score his fourth Premiership goal of the season. The Fulham back line was guilty of ball-watching as they waited for an offside flag that never materialised and Beattie, who briefly got the ball tangled in his feet, had time to check his stride and dig out a low, right-foot shot past Edwin van der Sar and in off a post.
Southampton were level for less than a minute as their defence switched off in all the excitement and Malbranque was handed his and Fulham's second goal. Steve Finnan crossed from the right and the ball bounced off Marlet's feet to Malbranque, who completed a straightforward finish from 10 yards.
Southampton showed little sign of getting forward again, but Fulham, having now scored two goals in a game for only the third time in their brief Premiership run, went in search of more and Luis Boa Morte grazed a post with a left-foot shot from 20 yards five minutes before the break.
Gordon Strachan, perhaps noticing Fulham's increasing ability to break through the middle of his defence, had replaced Claus Lundekvam with Paul Williams, his new signing from his old club Coventry City, five minutes earlier. Fulham's response was to send on Louis Saha for Marlet at half-time.
It all did little for the flow of the game, though. Fulham remained on top and Southampton kept waiting for their chance on the break, but there was little to excite either set of fans. Saha should have done better than fire over the bar when put clear and Boa Morte just missed the mark with a few speculative long-range shots.
However, better chances followed. Boa Morte hit a post in the 65th minute and Saha lobbed Jones and the bar by a foot with a skilful attempt to finish seconds later.
The chances continued to flow until the end as Jones emerged as Southampton's best and most active player. If only his team-mates and the referee had been on their game. Striker Marian Pahars missed an open goal when Anders Svensson's shot rebounded off the bar and referee Andy D'Urso missed a handball by Rufus Brevett from a shot by Dan Petrescu. Fulham were the better team; they were also the luckier.
Source The Observer by Nick Callow