Mark Hughes named just three changes to the side that drew with Manchester United at the weekend – full debutant Matthew Briggs filled in at left-back whilst Moussa Dembele also made his first full start for the Whites and Zoltan Gera took up his position on the right flank.

Craven Cottage reserved a fine welcome for two names from the past in the shape of Geoff Horsfield and Micky Adams.

The visitors lined-up with a flexible 5-3-2 formation, looking to utilise the forward runs of Adam Yates and Louis Dodds at fullback. But despite their early attacking intentions – they were simply unable to contain a rampant performance from the Whites.

Zoltan Gera’s fierce effort from 30 yards following a neat piece of build-up play from Etuhu and Zamora had Stuart Tomlinson beaten – unfortunately his effort flew just wide of the top corner too.

It proved to be a sign of things to come as Gera opened the scoring for the Whites courtesy of a brave header from a Matthew Briggs cross on ten minutes. Briggs showed all of his pace to race on to a Damien Duff pass before producing a fine cross for Gera. The Hungarian headed firmly past Tomlinson but took a boot in the face for his trouble.

The goal looked to have drained the visitors of their early energy as the Whites proceeded to dominate for extended spells. The visitors occasionally managed to gain a foothold in the game and applied some decent pressure to Fulham’s back line however, more often than not, Fulham were using the slippery surface to their advantage and sliding the ball around with ease.

Moussa Dembele doubled Fulham’s lead and opened his account with a well-placed finish on 26 minutes. The attacker received the ball with is back to goal and proceeded to work the ball infield before drilling a low shot inside Tomlinson’s right hand post.

Bobby Zamora made it three soon after when he linked up well with Zoltan Gera to fire the ball in from a near impossible angle. Zamora set the move in motion, stepping over a pass and allowing Gera to play a cute pass into the striker’s path.

Zamora returned the favour just before the interval when he rolled the ball into Gera’s feet, allowing the Hungarian international to spin and fire a shot into the top corner.

Dembele’s involvement ended at half-time as he was replaced by Clint Dempsey. The American was straight into the thick of the action, stinging Tomlinson’s palms with a strong shot from the edge of the area.

Matthew Briggs’ evening ended on 55 minutes when the young defender was replaced by Stephen Kelly. Briggs went off to a round of applause following a confident showing. Fulham’s final change of the night followed, with Jonathan Greening replacing Etuhu.

The pace dropped somewhat in the second-half but Fulham remained comfortably on top. Clint Dempsey forced a smart save from Tomlinson after he was played in by Zamora and Duff saw his effort fly just wide of the post as Fulham threatened to make it five.

Dempsey cheekily attempted to produce a near replica of his dramatic chipped goal against Juventus on 64 minutes – but Tomlinson was able to gather with relative ease.

Zamora grabbed his second of the night on 66 minutes when he placed a left footed free kick beyond Tomlinson.

Then Clint Dempsey made it six for Fulham after he exchanged passes with Gera on the edge of the Port Vale penalty area before hammering an unstoppable effort into the net.

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