Fulham registered their fifth home victory on the bounce courtesy of a second half goal from Damien Duff, his first of the season.
Following the 4-0 thrashing of Spurs, in the FA Cup, on Sunday, Mark Hughes made two changes to the starting eleven. Schwarzer, back from international duty, returned between the sticks whilst Baird replaced Salcido at full back.
With reference to the two transfer window acquisitions, Gudjohnsen didn`t make the eighteen but Kakuta was awarded a place on the bench.
Fulham started well without creating any real clear-cut chances although Harper, in the Newcastle goal, ha dot scamper across his goal on a couple of occasions.
Having lost Carroll in the transfer window, Alan Pardew would not have been impressed to see Ameobi leave the field injured early on. Newcastle almost opened the scoring as the first forty-five minutes approached the half way mark but Sidwell`s clearing header, from a Barton free-kick, went just, for us, the right side of the post.
Fulham should have taken the lead though when a Murphy free kick landed at the boots of Dempsey, unfortunately the American stabbed his effort wide.
Half Time – Fulham 0 Newcastle 0
If the first half had been a touch less entertaining than the Spurs rout, then the second half started off in much the same vein
But things slowly improved and Dempsey forced a save out of Harper before Duff saw his follow up fly wide.
Demspey was continuing to be a thorn in Newcastle`s side and Harper produced a great save to deny the American by his near post. But, thankfully, the deadlock was soon to be broken.
Murphy produced a great ball over the top, Duff held off Jose Enrique and scored against the very team he`d left to join us at Craven Cottage. How often does that happen?
Matters could have improved when debutant, Kakuta, had a chance but shot straight at Harper, after a good assist from Dembele.
Dempsey, one of the stars of the night, could have sewn the game up in a one-on-one situation but Harper pulled off a good stop.
All in all, eventually, another satisfying home result.
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