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James Andrew at Daily Mail |
Fulham (0) 0-1 (1) Sheff Wed
Ross Wallace's spectacular 30-yard strike inflicted Slavisa Jokanovic to defeat in his first game in charge of Fulham.
Jokanovic was appointed earlier this week after Fulham brought an end to their 49-day search for Kit Symons' replacement but he insisted he was no David Copperfield.
Having sat in the stands for Tuesday's 4-1 win over Rotherham, Jokanovic took charge for his first game back in English football.
And he must have wished it could have been anyone else other than Sheffield Wednesday after his final game in charge of Watford saw striker Atdhe Nuhiu scored a 90th minute equaliser to deny the Hornets the Championship title on the final day of last season.
And on his return to English football, it was Wallace who was the thorn in his side as his thunderbolt just before the half hour mark was enough to take all three points from Craven Cottage.
And the new boss was quick to downplay the chances of a quick turnaround at Craven Cottage.
He said: 'It's a frustrating situation but I come here for working not to fix problems fast. I am not David Copperfield, it will take time.
'It will take commitment from my staff, my players and all the people who are involved in this project. It is life, you have to work hard and we try and find the right way for us.
'We have 71 per cent possession of the ball in the first half but we do not make enough dangerous situations, we have to be a danger for the opposition. We are a very good team with the ball but we need to improve without the ball.
'Okay, they score one fantastic goal, but with changes we can stop this, we can avoid this situation.
'We are trying to find this balance between attack and defence. I expect a better balance and for us to be more competitive, that is very important for us.'
Wedneday's Gary Hooper had the first half chance of the match when he headed just over from a Liam Palmer cross.
But Fulham - who made four changes from Tuesday's win - looked bright with Ross McCormack and Alex Kacaniklic linking well.
Jamie O'Hara - one of the players restored to the starting XI - went close for Fulham when his shot from the edge of the box.
The first real chance of the match fell to Fulham's Emerson Hyndman when he latched on to Kacaniklic's deflected cross and fired his shot at Joe Wildsmith.
O'Hara then went close with another shot from distance - but in the driving rain both sides were struggling to put together any moves.
And then on the half hour mark and against the run of play Wallace cut inside Tim Ream on the right wing and fired an unstoppable shot past Andy Lonergan with his magic left foot to put Wednesday ahead.
Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal was pleased with the way Wallace took his goal, he said: 'I joked with Ross that he never scores goals like this earlier in the week. I said he did it for Celtic 25 years ago but why not for us?
'Of course, I was joking, it was not 25 years. I didn't make him score but it was a nice coincidence.'
After Wallace had luck from distance it seemed everyone was looking to have a go with Fernando Forestieri went first but his effort went high and wide.
Wallace had another go, before Sakari Mattila went close for Fulham from outside the box.
Jokanovic must have been pleased with what he saw from his team in the first half as Fulham dominated much of the game.
But Sheffield Wednesday started the second half on the front foot and had a glorious chance to double their lead.
Barry Bannan's long ball over the top found Hooper who was able to shrug off Ream and hesitated slightly before getting his shot away and Lonergan was able to smother the ball.
Hooper's strike partner Nuhiu then forced Lonergan to make a good save and tip the ball over the bar as he shot from a tight angle.
Lonergan was needed again to deny Hooper who again found himself in space after Nuhiu's ball through and the Fulham keeper was able to make himself big and tip the ball over the bar.
Jokanovic threw on Tuesday's double goal hero Cauley Woodrow to try and an equaliser.
And the England U21 international nearly obliged in the dying minutes as he found space in the area and headed over Jazz Richard's cross from the right.
Fulham were unable to find a way through and Jokanovic got his tenure off to a losing start.
Carvalhal added: 'I think we deserved the victory. The time we scored the goal was important because we were not playing well and Fulham had more of the ball.
'But football is like this and after the goal a lot of things changed in the game. Especially in the second half we had a lot of control of the game.
'In the second half we created three or four scoring chances to make another goal. It was not easy because of the way that Fulham play but the reality is that Joe Wildsmith did not have too many saves to make and we could have scored more.'
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