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A youthful Fulham Reserve side was put to the sword by their more experienced opponents on Monday evening. The home side lined with plenty of top flight experience in the shape Radhi Jaidi, Franck Queudrue, Stuart Parnaby and Mikael Forssell.
The young Fulham side battled bravely for the first period, reaching half time only a goal down. The Whites looked to be on the ropes for a short period following the opener but they soon regained their composure to finish the half on the ascendancy.
Fulham made a bright start to the second half, maintaining possession well but ultimately not testing Colin Doyle in the Blues’ goal. The home side soon doubled their advantage and sparked a spell of heavy pressure which forced Fulham back and limited the Whites to sporadic counter-attacks.
Birmingham went three up on the stroke of 80 minutes to effectively guarantee the three points. Fulham netted a consolation almost immediately from the restart when Brady Hudson-Odoi rounded off a good passing move.
But despite getting on the score sheet, the Whites conceded two further goals as the game drew to a close.
“The lads showed that they needed to be mentally stronger and deal with the setbacks,” said Reserve Team Manager, Billy McKinley, after the match. “Once the second goal went in their heads dropped a touch. From that point of view, mental strength and courage is one of the qualities that have to come through in those situations. The players are disappointed but sometimes they need to sit back and look at the bigger picture during the game and go back to basics.
“Three of our back four came from the Youth Team so it was a good experience for them and also a harsh lesson. When you drop so many youth players into the same area instead of getting a mix of experience and youth around the pitch, it is difficult. But all in all it was a disappointing way to bring a nice run of results to an end.”
Fulham: Brooks-Meade; Cumber, Briggs (Anderson 90), Leijer, Thompson; Milsom, Brown, Timlin, Saunders; Ehui, Hudson-Odoi