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Alex Stedman at London24 |
Fulham (0) 0-2 (2) Middlesbrough
Slavisa Jokanovic's Fulham fell to a 2-0 defeat to promotion chasing Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon at Craven Cottage.
Here's how we rated the Whites on a disappointing afternoon in west London.
Andy Lonergan - 7 Stood little chance with visitor's opener as had little protection from his defence, before being sent the wrong way by Leadbitter from the spot. Vital save from Downing just past the hour mark. Alert to race off his line and deny substitute Jordan Rhodes late on too.
Ryan Fredericks - N/A Had a quiet opening to the contest and was withdrawn after the 20 minute mark as injury forced him off.
Dan Burn - 5 Lost Albert Adomah in the area who opened the scoring early on, and looked nervy in the first half too, also caught flat-footed on occasions when the ball was on the deck.
Michael Madl - 6 Given a tough time by Nugent, whose runs in behind posed a problem to the central defender. Saw his header impressively cleared off the line by De Laet approaching half time - his side's best chance of the half.
Richard Stearman - 6 Struggled in a three man defence that was exposed by the promotion chasers' pace and imagination early on. However, he did manage to compose himself once the contest wore on under sustained Middlesbrough pressure. That was until a lazy foul on Jordan Rhodes saw him sent off in the dying moments.
Luke Garbutt - 5 Tenacious and a willing runner but was well marshalled by Emilio Nsue in the opening period. Impetus faded after the break, and failed to replicate early promise.
Tom Cairney - 5 The midweek goalscorer was persistent in trying to create for the hosts but was left frustrated on a number of occasions as his final ball let him down.
Scott Parker - 7 Captain had a typically solid game - the highlight of the first half was his block to stop Downing's driven effort minutes before the break. He repeated the trick in the second half with another crucial block to deny the winger again.
Chris Baird - 6 Well-travelled midfielder brought down David Nugent just before the 20 minute mark to concede a penalty and Middlesbrough's second goal. He was then taken off ten minutes into the second half.
Ryan Tunniclife - 5 Right sided midfielder had a very quiet first half with nothing much of note to report. Tried to get more involved in the second period, but his average performance summed up the hosts as a whole - withdrawn with just over 20 minutes to go.
Ross McCormack - 5 Led the attacking line on his own for Jokanovic's men but didn't have much joy against a stubborn and watertight visiting backline.
Substitutes:
Jamie O'Hara - 5 The midfielder's only meaningful contribution was to drag a shot wide from an inviting angle, and see a speculative effort from range roll harmlessly wide.
Moussa Dembele - 6 Replaced the injured Fredericks in the first half, and his bicycle kick in the 38th minute was well saved, as well as sparking the home crowd into life momentarily. Never afraid to run at the opposition defence, but had no change out of the solid Teesiders' backline. Volleyed over late on when he should have hit the target too.
Zakaria Labyad - 4 Handed just over half an hour on the field, but the midfielder failed to make much of an impact - his most notable contribution being a wayward effort from long range that sailed over.
Source .