Fulham 2-0 West Brom – Premiership Live Blog – 22 February 2009

Bottom of the table West Brom travel to Fulham, who are not known for their generosity to the opposition. A comprehensive win for the Baggies could see them claw their way out of the relegation zone but mid table Fulham will have other ideas. Daily Soccer Blog will be here to provide updates for anyone looking to catch up on some sleep this Sunday afternoon.

Match Preview

Fulham’s board must be laughing all the way to the bank following the January transfer window sale of Jimmy Bullard to Hull City. The maverick midfielder is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury – to think Fulham commanded £5 million for him!

Fulham are an excellent team at Craven Cottage and have won seven out of 11 played there this season. In fact, they have lost just once on their home turf – a 2-1 reverse against West Ham last September. In their last six at home, Roy Hodgson’s side have won four and drawn two, including a 2-2 draw against Chelsea. They have scored 13 goals and conceded just six in this sequence.

West Brom find themselves propping up the table and have a poor away record. They have lost nine out of 12 on the road, earning two draws and their solitary victory came at Middlesbrough at the end of September. The Baggies will be boosted by the return of influential 0n-loan striker Jay Simpson as Tony Mowbray’s side look to pull off an unlikely win.

Line Ups

Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies, Murphy, Etuhu, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora.
Subs: Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Kamara, Dacourt, Gray, Kallio, Baird.

West Brom: Carson, Zuiverloon, Meite, Barnett, Robinson, Morrison, Koren, Borja Valero, Filipe Teixeira, Fortune, Simpson.
Subs: Kiely, Cech, Bednar, Brunt, Moore, Menseguez, Martis

Goals

Fulham: Zamora (61′), Johnson (72′)

Live Blog

90+2′ Penalty Miss! Bednar dribbles into the box and goes over Hangeland’s trailing leg, there doesn’t look an awful lot in it but Martin Atkinson points to the spot. Bednar tries placing it to the right but Schwarzer saves it well. Even if the keeper wasn’t there Bednar would have probably missed, such has been West Brom’s miserable time of it today.

90′ The tannoy announcer reveals a laughable four minutes of added time. What is the point? We could stay here all day and West Brom wouldn’t score. Just blow the whistle and be done with it.

87′ Menseguez finds himself on the edge of the box, he plays the ball back slightly to Simpson, who sends a feeble shot towards the Fulham goal. The effort sums up his side’s performance this afternoon. They know the game is up.

85′ The excellent Danny Murphy is replaced by veteran midfield enforcer Olivier Dacourt, who makes his debut for Fulham. Seconds earlier, Robinson earned a booking.

84′ A cross from Brunt is missed by both Hangeland and Konchesky in the Fulham box but it appears to just hit the head of Menseguez and goes over the bar.

80′ Andy Johnson goes off to rapturous applause, as does Bobby Zamora, who are replaced by Nevland and Kamara.  Bednar goes on to replacethe ineffective Fortune.

79′ Fulham are again allowed to pour forward and Konchesky is set free with a single pass from Johnson. Neither Barnett nor Zuiverloon feel like closing him down and it’s left to goalkeeper Carson to come out and smother a low, hard cross before Fulham can bundle in a third.

77′ Out of sheer desperation, Morrison is replaced by the little-known Menseguez. It’s not as though the Baggies have anything to lose now.

74′ Ironic cheers ring around the ground as Fulham spray the ball around unchallenged. They have been far the superior side this afternoon and should be able to see out the last 15 minutes or so.

72′ Goal! Fulham 2 West Brom 0. It’s all over now and no less than Fulham deserve. Some shocking defending by the West Brom “defence” allows a long free kick from Murphy go straight through to Zamora in the box. He shoots, it’s parried by Carson but only as far as an unmarked Andy Johnson, who has the easy task of slotting home into an empty net.

71′ Hangeland is the latest Fulham player to clatter the woodwork. With his back to goal, he heads a corner from six yards but it hits the bar, then Carson, before being cleared.

69′ Simpson on the left hand side for West Brom has the right idea and fires in a glorious pass across the six yard box. It’s a shame none of his team mates can be bothered to gamble because they would have a tap in easier than Zamora’s. Pantsil is the grateful recipient of the ball and he clears.

68′ The commentator announces that prior to today, Zamora has scored just twice in 49 Premiership appearances.With a record as poor as that, how on earth is he commanding both a regular place in a top flight side and earning likely wages of £50,000 a week

65′ West Brom aren’t about to roll over and die just yet. Koren has a sighter from the edge of the box which Schwarzer gets down well to save. Seconds later, Koren touches on to Valero to have a crack from a similar distance but his effort goes well wide.

62′ Zamora has got the wind in his sails now. Dempsey charges down the left and puts in a great cross in front of the West Brom box. Zamora swings at it first time and although the shot is always rising, it only goes over the bar by a matter of inches.

61′ Goal! Fulham 1 West Brom 0. Would you believe it? Pantsil gets a cross in from the right, it’s aimed at Johnson but the striker misses it. The ball reaches Bobby Zamora at the far post and even he can’t miss from a couple of yards out. Nobody can deny Fulham deserve this lead.

59′ The Baggies defence is all at sea again but they get away with it. Dempsey plays in Zamora but the defender goes down under a nothing challenge from Zuiverloon. It looked as though he tripped rather than being fouled. There is some handbags between the pair, but Zamora looks frustrated by his own crapness more than anything.

56′ A long cross field ball from Pantsil is pointlessly headed on by Zamora on the edge of the box. Carson gathers it with ease and would be delighted if “No Goals” Bobby remains on the pitch for the rest of the game.

54′ Fortune wastes another excellent chance. Again, Brunt is the orchestrator, this time from the left and he whips in a delicious cross right in front Fortune but his volley is charged down by Konchesky. Unbelievably, the Baggies could have taken the lead after rarely threatening in the first half.

53′ Brunt makes an immediate impact. He swings a free kick in from the right and it is met by the head of Fortune. He gets his header all wrong and it goes harmlessly over the bar.

52′ A break was on for Fulham but again wasted. Johnson advanced with the ball and tried to play in Zamora, but the pass was overhit and Barnett was able to shepherd the ball back to Carson in the West Brom goal.

50′ Tony Mowbray makes his first change for the Baggies, bringing on Brunt for Teixeira.

49′ It’s more of the same for Fulham. They press forward in numbers and string several passes together in and around the West Brom box without really threatening. First Dempsey and then Davies look as though they may get an opportunity to shoot on goal, but the ball unfortunately reaches Zamora on the right who puts in a feeble cross.

46′ West Brom kick off and will try and ride their luck for as long as possible. No changes have been made to either side.

Half Time. How this match is still goalless is a mystery. West Brom have showed exactly why they are bottom of the league and with a bit more luck on their side, Fulham could be three, four or even five goals up. Hitting the woodwork three times is unfortunate, but Roy Hodgson also needs more from his two strikers, who have hardly been in the game. Zamora looks like a player who will never score a goal again, even against this shocking Baggies defence and you get the feeling West Brom could go up the other end and nick a thoroughly undeserved winning goal if this carry on continues into the second half.

42′ Again, Fulham squander a goal scoring chance. Konchesky swings a cross towards Davies who superbly plays Zamora into the box. The goal shy striker snatches at the effort and volleys it high over the bar. Zamora hasn’t scored in over 1,700 minutes of play, surely it’s time to consider a change of career?

39′ Ridiculous defending by West Brom who are now doing their best to score on Fulham’s behalf. A long ball forward by Murphy is headed back towards goal by Meite. However, neither defender or keeper could have spoken to eachother as Carson was rushing off his goal line to collect the ball. The loose ball rolls agonisingly close to the goal line but Carson gets back in time to push it behind for a corner.

33′ When is this ball going to go in the back of the net? Zamora touches the ball on to Murphy on the Fulham D and he curls a first time effort towards goal, only to see it clang against the crossbar. The Baggies should be dead and buried by now but you get the feeling it’s not going to be Fulham’s day.

30′ Fulham have a good spell of possession and work the ball around the West Brom box. It reaches Konchesky on the left, who sweeps past Koren but can’t deliver that final, telling ball.

28′ The camera pans to Fabio Capello in the stands. What on earth he is doing wasting his time watching this dross is anybody’s guess.

24′ That’s a lot better from Dempsey. A half cleared ball arrives to his feet midway in the Baggies half and he is allowed to strike a glorious shot from 25 yards out. It heads straight for the top corner and Carson is nowhere near it, but the shot rattles the bar and bounces back into play.

22′ Pantsil finds himself in space on the right, he plays the ball to Dempsey who shoots miles over the bar. It looks as though it’s only going to be a matter of time before Fulham score because the visitors are not offering much themselves.

19′ A stinging snap shot from Etuhu from the edge of the box awakens the snoozing crowd after West Brom do their level best not to clear the ball properly. Carson was alert to it and managed to beat the ball away.

17′ A quiet period of the game and I think all this talk of West Brom being a wonderful passing side is a complete myth. They seem content to lump it forward at every opportunity but let’s face it, whatever they try and do it not going to prevent them from going down.

13′ Davies sends Johnson racing clear into the box but Barnett lunges in with a heroic sliding tackle to cut out the danger for the Baggies. A second corner finds Davies on the right, he easily beats the non-challenge from Valero and drives an angled effort towards goal. It takes a deflection and goes behind for yet another corner, which comes to nothing. Tony Mowbray’s side are leading a charmed life at the moment.

9′ A rare break from West Brom with the marauding Simpson. He plays Teixeira in down the left but Pantsil cuts out his cross. The corner comes to nothing and is plucked out of the air with ease by Schwarzer.

5′ Murphy tests the Baggies resolve with a superb free kick from 25 yards. Carson gets his fingertips to it, but it may have been after the ball had initially hit the post. So unlucky for Murphy who could prove to be a key player here this afternoon.

2′ Fulham have unsurprisingly started the brighter. Robinson makes a hash of a clearances, giving Davies a second bite at putting in a cross. It hits the arm of the lumbering full back but no free kick is given.

1′ It’s the home side who get thinsg started. I suspect Fulham will put in a bit more effort than they did at Old Trafford in midweek, rather than politely roll over for their opponents.

0′ Good afternoon everyone. If any Baggies fans are hoping today sees a dramatic change of form, it doesn’t look good I’m afraid. Fulham are an awesome side at home and their record at Craven Cottage is second only to table-toppers Manchester United. They have not lost in their last eight at home and let’s be honest, the Baggies are garbage on the road.

Reaction

The result wasn’t a real surprise. Fulham are excellent at home and West Brom are poor away. Well, they are poor anyway. The score could and should have been, much, much higher as the Baggies led a charmed existance throughout the match. Great news for Bobby Zamora, who finally scored his first goal since September and the result sees Fulham climb to eighth. West Brom look like a said destined for relegation. They were ineffective across all areas of the park and you wonder what on earth they do all week in training. A non-existant defence, midfield and strikers which offer no goal threat. A pathetic showing all round from a side who deserve to be bottom of the league.

Man of the Match

The Fulham midfield ran West Brom ragged all afternoon. Davies, Dempsey, Konchesky and Pantsil got forward at every available opportunity and caused the Baggies all manner of problems. However, the one player who shone like a beacon was Danny Murphy. The former Liverpool midfielder ran the show this afternoon and was unlucky not have scored a goal himself, hitting the woodwork twice. He showed great vision in setting up the second goal, with an inch-perfect ball from the halfway line. Now in the later years of his career, Murphy can provide everything the departed Jimmy Bullard did, and more.