Match Report Fulham (0) 1-0 (0) Cambridge_United League Cup Round 03 25/26 at Craven Cottage Tuesday 23rd September 2025,    KO: 19:45 Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo (Leicestershire) Sky Sports +

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Fulham booked their place in Round Four of the Carabao Cup with a 1-0 win over Cambridge United on Tuesday evening.

The first half was an attritional affair against our League Two opponents, but our quality told in the second 45, crucially when Emile Smith Rowe tucked home a Timothy Castagne ball across the face.

Marco Silva named an entirely different XI to the one that started the win against Brentford three days earlier. That meant a full debut for Kevin, while Jonah Kusi-Asare made the bench for the first time.

An aggressive Cambridge setup meant Fulham had to be patient in fashioning chances, with the first glimpse of goal arriving in the ninth minute. Adama Traoré picked out Raúl Jiménez at the back post, who nodded back into the path of Smith Rowe, only for a brilliant Korey Smith intervention to take it off his toes.

At the other end, a positive run by Shayne Lavery was put to an abrupt halt by an inch-perfect Jorge Cuenca tackle, just as the U’s striker threatened to pull the trigger.

Match Stats	Fulham	Cambridge
Goals	(0) 1	0 (0)
Scorers	Smith Rowe 66	-
,
Goal attempts	15	6
On target	6	0
Shooting Accuracy	40%	0%
Possession		23%
Passes Success	88%	58%
Corners	7	5
Tackles Success	78%	71%
Saves	0	4
Fouls	8	12
Offsides	0	1
Yellows	1	1
Reds	0	0
source: SkySports

Credit had to go to the visitors for how they were containing Fulham, restricting us to a couple of off target long rangers from Kevin and Cuenca.

As we approached the half hour mark, Lavery was presented with a couple of sighters of goal after finding space in the box. His first effort was well blocked by Issa Diop, and when the ball dropped back into his path he sent in a shot which may well have found the corner prior to a vital Cuenca deflection.

The Whites at least ended the half stronger and were almost presented with a gift when Cambridge ‘keeper Jake Eastwood dropped Harrison Reed’s free-kick after colliding with teammate Zeno Ibsen Rossi, but the visitors were able to hack the loose ball away before we could capitalise.

Fulham started the second half on the front foot, and after winning a corner inside the opening seconds, Kevin drew a good stop from Eastwood with a bouncing shot from distance, before Raúl hooked a clever effort a yard over.

We kept the pressure on following another corner soon after, culminating in Adama picking out the run of Reed at the far post, but the angle was too acute and the midfielder’s volley was comfortably saved by Eastwood.

The U’s number one was busier in the first six minutes of the second half than he was in the entirety of the first, this time called upon to beat away Adama’s fierce effort at his near post.

Kevin and Raúl then both sent efforts off target from outside the box as we continued to turn the screw.

Eastwood saved his best stop for the 58th minute, when he got fingertips on Reed’s rising left footer to just about tip it over the bar, with Raúl heading Reed’s subsequent corner over.

That was the midfielder’s final action of the night as he made way for Josh King, while Samuel Chukwueze was given his debut in place of Adama.

Eastwood had been keeping his team in the tie, and was unfortunate when he was eventually beaten as he had made a stunning stop to palm away Raúl’s acrobatic volley, only for Castagne to square the loose ball to Smith Rowe for a tap-in.

We hadn’t seen anything of Cambridge as an attacking threat in the second half until substitute Sullay Kaikai got plenty behind his strike having cut in from the left, but he lacked the direction to trouble Benjamin Lecomte.

Another sub, Kylian Kouassi, then had a couple of sighters – after failing to make contact with an overhead kick in a good position, he hit a firm shot on the swivel that Cuenca read well to block.

It looked like King might add some daylight in stoppage time when he was seemingly picked out by Rodrigo Muniz for a tap-in, but a heroic block meant we had to settle for the one-goal win.

Fulham: Lecomte, Castagne, Diop, Cuenca, Robinson, Cairney, Reed (King 60), Traore (Chukwueze 60), Smith Rowe (Berge 82), Kevin (Wilson 87), Jimenez (Muniz 82)

Unused substitutes: Leno, Tete, Bassey, Kusi-Asare

Goals:
Emile Smith Rowe 66 (right footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Timothy Castagne.)

Yellow Card: Harrison Reed (44,f),

Cambridge United : Eastwood, Bennett, Jobe, Rossi, Bradshaw, Brophy (Knight 72), McLoughlin, Smith (Ball 64), Mayor (Kaikai 64), Lavery (Kouassi 64), Mpanzu (Kachunga 72)

Unused substitutes: Purrington, Watts, Hughes, Gibbons

Yellow Card: Smith (45+2,f),

Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo (Leicestershire)

Attendance: 16,254

Fulham are next in action at 14.00 next Sunday, 28th September, when they travel to Aston Villa live on SkySports+.

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