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Nick Szczepanik at Daily Telegraph |
Fulham (1) 1-1 (0) Cardiff
Fulham were denied what would have been a deserved first victory of the season, but their under-pressure manager Felix Magath was delighted with a performance that he rated their best of the current campaign so far. And afterwards he insisted he was "the only one" who could take the club forward.
Tim Hoogland, a German defender who had played for Magath at Schalke '04, had headed Fulham into a deserved first-half lead but striker Kenwyne Jones levelled for the Welshmen after 55 minutes.
The draw gave the Londoners the psychological boost of rising off the foot of the Championship table and although some fans are still against the German, to judge from shouts of "Magath out" after the final whistle, more stood to applaud the team off.
"It's a pity when you play so well in the first half and in the end only have one point," Magath said. "But we showed everybody that we are developing and we controlled the game against Cardiff who are a very good team and one of the favourites for promotion.
"I can understand that the fans are afraid. But I have a lot of young players in the team and I knew this would be a problem. I'm trying to bring Fulham players from the academy into the Premier League. I'm the right man for this, no one else, I'm the only one. Not the Special One, the only one.
" Fulham should have had more reward from a dominant first-half performance, in which Ross McCormack on the left and Chris David on the right made life difficult for the visitors.
McCormack curled a shot around David Marshall but just wide of the post before his cross was flicked home at the near post by Hoogland in the 22nd minute.
But Emerson Hyndman passed up two chances to shoot from good positions then chanced his arm from a more unrealistic distance, and Marshall saved well from Scott Parker, while Cauley Woodrow scooped a shot over the crossbar.
"It was a very good first half," Magath said. "We had chances but it always happens that when you play well but don't score a goal that you can concede a goal."
Inevitably, Cardiff made Fulham pay in a much-improved second half.
After 55 minutes Mats Daehli slipped a pass through to Jones, who rammed his fourth goal of the season through the legs of Marcus Bettinelli. "Kenwyne has been terrific," Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Cardiff manager, said. "We didn't play the ball into him enough. I was pleased with the second half.
Fulham have good players who can move the ball about the pitch although we were disappointed with the goal we conceded."
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