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Sam Cunningham at Daily Mail |
Fulham (0) 0-2 (0) Brighton
Brighton eased the pressure on their current plight as two goals downed Fulham and hauled the manager-less club out of the relegation zone.
Second-half strikes from Adrian Colunga and substitute Solly March earned Brighton, led by caretaker manager Nathan Jones, only their second win in 20 Championship matches.
The south coast club are going through a torrid time following the resignation of Sami Hyppia, but there was some festive cheer served up for their fans with this result.
Plenty of top name managers including Chris Hughton, Tony Pulis and Tim Sherwood are in contention for the vacant position in charge. But with jobs in the top flight becoming available, no-one has yet been secured by chief executive Paul Barber.
Jones has won four points from this two games on the touchline - having drawn with Reading on Boxing Day - and is under consideration, but is still unsure if he will remain in charge for their FA Cup match against Brentford on Saturday.
'I've had a week working with the team and changed a few things in the last few games and they've responded,' Jones said. 'I played for the club and never did I dream I would take them for two games.
'I've got plenty of confidence, I believe in my structure and philosophy. The results reiterate my belief that I'm on the right track.'
For the first goal, Craig Mackail-Smith won the ball inside his own half and Brighton broke with pace. He played in Elliott Bennett who raced into the box where he was scythed down by Konstantinos Stafylidis for the penalty, which Colunga slotted in on the hour mark.
The home side pushed for an equaliser which looked like it would come, only for their former goalkeeper David Stockdale to stand in the way.
Sean Kavanagh smartly turned on the edge of the box and sent an effort destined for the top right corner only for Stockdale to fling his arm up to push over.
Hugo Rodallega also struck a low shot from inside the box towards the bottom left corner that the Brighton goalkeeper pushed wide.
And the vital victory was finally sealed when substitute March was played in by Joao Teixeira and he took the ball in his stride as he ran into the box before burying a shot in the bottom right corner.
Fulham manager Kit Symons was left dismayed by the result. 'There are no excuses. It is one of those very disappointing nights. It just wasn't good enough, the quality wasn't there.'
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