Fulham fell to their fourth defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at Southampton. It was their third match away from home in eight days, after beating Swansea in the FA Youth Cup in midweek.

Fulham came into this fixture fourth in the table, Southampton two places below but with two games in hand. 

Fulham’s first opportunity came after three minutes. Nicolas Santos-Clase took the defender on on the left wing, got into the box and attempted to pull the ball back to the six-yard line for Sonny Hilton, but a defender got a foot in at the vital second.

Southampton scored the only goal in the match during the 12^th minute. A corner wasn’t effectively cleared by Fulham, the ball fell to Harlem Hale just outside of the box and he chipped a ball over the defence to Harry Hamblin.

On the half volley slotted it into the bottom right past Luca Ashby-Hammond to make it 1-0.

Fulham looked to respond, in the 17^th minute Hilton slipped a ball through the middle to Santos-Clase, he pulled the ball to his left and shot hard but two Saints defenders jumped in the path of his shot.

Southampton thought they had scored a second in the 23^rd minute as Jonathan Afolabi slotted near post, but the flag was up straight away from the linesman.

34 minutes into the match Dan Martin raced down the left, he crossed a ball towards Chris Kelly at the back post. Kelly tried to shoot across goal, the ball was cleared to Reece York on the edge of the area.

The midfielder was clipped just outside for a free kick. Santos-Clase took the dead-ball from a good position, but couldn’t lift the ball over the wall.

There were two changes at the break for the Young Whites with Jose Garrido and Showkat Tahir entering the fray in place of Zico Asare who was on a yellow, and also Timmy Abraham.

Southampton had a good chance six minutes into the half, the ball was pulled back for Afolabi and Martin made a crucial block to keep the Young Whites in the match.

Fulham were enjoying more possession in the second half but finding it difficult to break down Southampton’s defence.

66 minutes into the match Saints went close again. Luca Ashby-Hammond tipped a dipping shot onto the crossbar, keeping the deficit to one.

73 minutes in and Tahir had a sniff at goal, running into the D he swung a shot towards the right, but it flew past the post.

With nine minutes left in the match Jake Vokins made a mazy run into the Young Whites’ box, he struck for goal and his shot hammered off the top left corner of the stanchion out for a goal kick.

Ashby-Hammond made a fantastic save moments later as Christoph Klarer sent a powerful header on target.

Reece York and Sylvester Jasper had chances from the left in the final five minutes, but both efforts were hooked wide.

There was an onslaught of balls into the box as Fulham pressed for the equaliser, but the Saints were able to hold strong for their 1-0 victory over Fulham.