Dear me, Fulham crash to a heavy defeat against the ten men of Blackburn. Can things get any worse?
For the trip to Ewood Park, Martin Jol named a side that many might have suspected he`d go with apart from the surprise inclusion of Blackburn old-boy, Damien Duff. Andrew Johnson, a supposed Blackburn target, had to be content with a place on the bench.
Our hosts were without their influential defender, Chris Samba, with the official reason given for his absence as illness.
At a far from packed Ewood Park, Blackburn made the better start with Yakubu providing a flick for Dunn to see his shot blocked and then Hoilett hitting an effort straight at Stockdale in the Fulham goal.
The game burst into life though when the referee decided that in a 50-50 challenge between Yakubu and Murphy the Blackburn player had raised his foot and shown his studs. The home crowd were not impressed with the red card that greeted Yakubu.
Fulham could have opened the scoring but Zamora`s looping header came back off the woodwork. Murphy then delivered a free-kick that Senderos met with a thundering header only for Robinson to pull off a great save.
Just as you thought it`d be all-square at half time, Pedersen curled a free kick around the wall and into the net to give Blackburn an unlikely lead.
Half Time – Blackburn 1 Fulham 0
If Fulham thought things could get better in the second half they were mistaken. Early on, in the half, we were 2-0 down when Our hosts poured forward straight from the kick-off, Dunn found Goodwillie and although his shot was blocked Dunn was on hand to rifle a shot past Stockdale.
Slowly, Fulham got back into the game, attacking Blackburn with intent and it was to be the ex-Blackburn player, Duff, who reduced the arrears driving home a right-footed shot going through Olsson`s legs and beating Robinson.
That goal should have provided Fulham with the platform to go on and at least get a draw but it wasn`t too happen with eleven minutes of normal time left, N`Zonzi chipped a ball to Formica who compounded our misery with a solid finish.
Another bad away day!
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