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Fulham and Stoke City shared the spoils on Wednesday evening in an entertaining draw at the Britannia Stadium.
The Whites struck first through Rob Milsom on 18 minutes but it wasn’t long before the hosts were back on level terms thanks to a 24th minute strike from Vincent Pericard. Glen Whelan gave Stoke the lead just before the interval from the penalty spot but Fulham secured their first point of the season when Wayne Brown saw his penalty kick saved before slamming home the rebound.
The Whites named a team strong in experience, featuring the likes of Fredrik Stoor, Andranik, Julian Gray and Erik Nevland whilst Stoke’s starting eleven included familiar names like Pericard, Ibrahima Sonko, Tom Soares, Amdy Faye and Michael Tonge to name just a few.
Fulham made hard work of the opening 45 minutes and were not able to slip into their rhythm on too many occasions. However the Whites looked a more dangerous outfit after the break with Nevland looking to get his name on the score sheet.
Stoke looked like stealing all three points late on when a Whelan free-kick looked destined to find the back of the net but a world-class save from David Stockdale denied the Potters.
Speaking after the match, Reserve Team Manager, Billy McKinlay, gave his assessment.
“We were a little bit too predictable in our play and we got caught in possession in the wrong areas too many times - we gave them opportunities to come and press us; we basically caused our own problems in the first-half,” he said.
“We played with a wee bit more variety in the second half, playing a bit further up the pitch and on the front foot. That stretched them back a bit and we put some more passing sequences together further up the pitch.
“The guys showed good resilience, funnily enough it was one of our poorest performances of the season and we ended up nicking a point – that’s how football goes sometimes. It was a gritty performance as opposed to a silky one.”
Fulham: Stockdale, Stoor, Anderson (Briggs 83), Leijer, Smalling, Milsom, Brown, Andranik, Smith (Hoesen 70), Nevland, Gray
