Starting Formations

Fulham
4-4-2

Zamora Nevland

Seol       Andranik      Murphy (C)       Gera

Kallio      Smalling        Pantsil      Stoor

Schwarzer

 

Gold Coast United

4-4-2

Smeltz    Robson

Pantelidis   Culina   Griffiths  Robson

Traore  Thwaite   Van den Brink  Fitzsimmons

Vanstrattan

Match Report

Fulham’s preparations for the new season got off to a disappointing start in their first taste of match action, against Gold Coast United on Wednesday.

The Australian winter provided ideal conditions with which to get back into the swing of things, on a cool, slightly damp evening in Eastern Australia. With five of last season’s first team regulars back in the UK, Roy Hodgson’s team selection offered a number of players the opportunity to stake a claim for more frequent match action.

 

Mark Schwarzer was named in goal in his homeland, in front of a defence of Fredrik Stoor, John Pantsil, Chris Smalling and Toni Kallio.

 

Andranik was selected alongside Danny Murphy in the centre of midfield, with Zoltan Gera and Seol Ki-Hyeon the two wide men. Meanwhile, Erik Nevland began up-front with Bobby Zamora.

 

The home crowd, meanwhile, were excited at the prospect of getting a glimpse of their star summer signing, Jason Culina, acquired from PSV Eindhoven.

 

The hosts started brightly, obviously keen to make a statement against their illustrious visitors. The Whites, in contrast, looked a little rusty, with a few wayward touches in the early exchanges. A less than perfect surface wasn’t making life easy for either team, as passes appeared too slow to reach their intended recipients all too often.

 

There was no explosive start, as both sides sized each other up early on, with no real threat to either goal. That was until eight minutes in, when Zoltan Gera was felled 30 yards from goal and Freddie Stoor’s free-kick found Zamora in the area. However, the big striker was closely guarded and couldn’t force an effort at goal.

 

Moments later Gold Coast had the first purposeful attempt of the match as Shane Smeltz found space on the edge of the area and fired a shot low and hard. The ball rolled just wide though without troubling Schwarzer.

 

At the other end, Seol progressed down the left, but his low cross lacked accuracy. Zamora recovered the situation and laid the ball back to Andranik, but under pressure, the Iranian fired over.

 

The home side then had a golden opportunity to take the lead. Robson was played through on goal and appeared to be one-on-one with Schwarzer. Chris Smalling appeared from nowhere with a fantastic last ditch challenge that snatched the ball away from the Brazilian as he shaped to shoot.

 

Smalling’s timely intervention took on even more significance moments later as Fulham took the lead. Awarded a free-kick 25 yards out, Danny Murphy stepped up and, after taking a moment to size up his range, fired a purposeful shot into the top left hand corner of the net, leaving Vanstratten to look on helplessly.

 

Some hairy moments followed for the Whites as Gold Coast went in search of an equaliser. And on 20 minutes they came their closest yet as Joel Porter flicked the ball over Stoor’s head, creating space to volley at goal. His effort had Schwarzer beaten, but John Pantsil came to the rescue, deflecting the goalbound attempt with his head.

 

Jason Culina then tried his luck with an ambitious pot shot for the hosts, but again, the effort lacked accuracy.

 

There were cries of dismay from the home crowd just before the half hour mark as they claimed for a penalty. Porter fired a header at goal and the ball appeared to hit Smalling’s arm, but the referee ignored the calls, instead awarding a corner. Moments later, the match official was forced to make his first booking of the evening as Andranik was guilty of a late challenge on Culina.

 

The Whites came close to doubling their advantage on 32 minutes. The ball dropped nicely for Zoltan Gera just inside the area, and the Hungarian struck a sweet half-volley, which seemed to take a deflection as it rose just over the bar.

 

The billing of ‘friendly’ for this fixture was brought into question on 38 minutes when Pantelidis slid in hard and late on Seol. The South Korean required treatment, but after a few moments he was thankfully able to continue. Pantelidis received a booking for his vicious challenge.

 

Just before the break, Fulham began to find their groove, and produced the best move of the game to that point. A passing sequence into the box ended up with Bobby Zamora, who held the ball up before laying it back to Erik Nevland. Erik’s shot, however, flew wide of the far post.

 

As Fulham seemed destined to be going in ahead at the break, there followed a couple of worrying moments. Firstly, Murphy failed to spot a Gold Coast attacker looming as he played a pass back to Mark Schwarzer. Porter pounced and ran through on goal, and a goal looked certain until Schwarzer made himself big and denied the hosts an equaliser, pushing the ball wide for a corner.

 

Gold Coast took the resultant set-piece quickly and an impressive turn of skill by Traore left two defenders for dead, and allowed the Ivorian to encroach on goal and unleash a shot, which Schwarzer again did well to tip over.

 

 

 

The Manager made several changes at half-time, introducing Andy and Eddie Johnson as the new strike pairing. Chris Baird came on in central midfield, replacing Murphy who picked up a knock towards the end of the first period. Aaron Hughes and debutant Stephen Kelly were introduced at the back, with John Pantsil and Zoltan Gera making way. Pascal Zuberbuhler took over goalkeeping duties from Schwarzer.

 

Gold Coast capitalised on the lack of cohesion of the re-jigged Fulham line-up, creating a couple of attacks in the opening minutes of the second period. However, the defence dealt well with the pressure, clearing or blocking several attempted crosses into the danger zone.

 

On 54 minutes United could count themselves very unfortunate to not be level. From a corner, Thwaite headed against the post and the rebound fell invitingly to Smeltz, but the striker somehow scooped his effort over the bar when it appeared easier to score.

 

With the Fulham side somewhat disjointed by the half-time reshuffle, chances were becoming fewer and farther between. On 60 minutes Andranik called Vanstratten into action for one of the few occasions in the second-half, but his free-kick was easily held.

 

With 20 minutes left on the clock, Fulham made another change, introducing Matthew Briggs at left-back for Toni Kallio who had been booked for a deliberate trip minutes earlier.

 

A minute later Andy Johnson broke down the right and crossed low into a crowded box. Unfortunately Eddie Johnson couldn’t connect with his strike partner’s pass and the chance went begging.

 

Gold Coast countered immediately, and the skilful Robson jinked past three players, before his eventual shot flew high and wide. Shortly afterwards Culina tried his luck with another powerful strike, but again it was well off target.

 

However, on 80 minutes the home side got the equaliser that had arguably been coming. Culina held up the ball on the right of the area, biding his time before delivering a deep cross, which Smeltz headed back across the goal. Milson leapt with the stretching Zuberbuhler and the ball somehow found its way into the net, albeit with a suspicion of obstruction.

 

Gold Coast now had the momentum and five minutes later Zuberbuhler was again called into action to tip the ball around the post as Tahj Minniecon hit a decent shot low and hard.

 

However, Fulham weren’t so fortunate from the resultant corner. The Whites failed to clear their lines, and the ball eventually fell for Smeltz who, having finally found his shooting boots, despatched confidently through a crowd of bodies.

 

Young substitute Matt Saunders attempted to hit back quickly, with some direct running and good skill before finding Stoor. But the Swede’s attempted shot that followed was more hopeful than dangerous.

 

Into injury time, Eddie Johnson was played through on goal, but the linesman flagged the American offside, and with that disappeared the last chance of a Fulham equaliser.

 

So it’s back to the drawing board for Roy’s boys. All things considered, the Whites can console themselves with the fact that it was their first match after just four training sessions, and the sheer number of changes to the side meant there was an understandable lack of cohesion.

 

Nevertheless, the outcome will give Roy and his staff plenty to consider on the training ground before Saturday’s meeting with Melbourne Victory.

 

Fulham: Schwarzer (Zuberbuhler 45); Stoor, Pantsil (Hughes 45), Smalling (Leijer 79), Kallio (Briggs 70); Gera (Kelly 45), Murphy (Baird 45), Andranik (Saunders 80), Seol; Zamora (A. Johnson 45), Nevland (E. Johnson 45).