Fulham lost 4-2 to Leyton Orient at Motspur Park in their fifth pre-season match. The Whites went 3-0 down before halftime, and with a late resurgence almost equalised, until Orient sealed the win in the 90th minute.
Timmy Abraham scored a brace for the Whites, taking his tally to 6 goals in pre-season.
Fulham were in control of the opening ten minutes, keeping possession and dictating play. They won a corner and Scott Armsworth had a chance to go ahead for Fulham but headed over the bar.
Orient broke the deadlock in the 10th minute. Fulham were trying to play out from the back, and a misplaced pass from a midfielder handed it straight to a striker in red, who tucked it past Luca Ashby-Hammond.
Fulham almost equalised instantly, Shawkat Tahir and Sonny Hilton with some intricate play led to Sylvester Jasper shooting hard and the keeper palmed the effort onto the post.
Fulham applied more pressure as the corner count started to mount. From a corner Leyton Orient broke rapidly up the pitch, and switched the play, their left winger this time rattled the post with their effort, close to doubling their advantage.
20 minutes in and Tahir a shot away from the edge of the box, but it deflected and went out for a corner. Jose Garrido got a head to the ball as it was whipped in, but not enough power behind the header to cause problems for the keeper.
Orient doubled their lead in the 35th minute. Another wayward pass, this time from Ashby-Hammond, gave them another clear-cut opportunity and Orient’s number nine punished the lapse of concentration.
Just before half time, Garrido had another chance from a corner, but couldn’t direct the ball at goal. Orient stormed up the other end of the pitch, and after a number of deflected shots they put a scrappy goal into the back of the net to make it 3-0.
Second half kicked off and Fulham made two chances at the break. Both were involved as Ziko Azare started a run up the field, passed to Chris Kelly who did well to get to ball to Timmy Abraham.
Abraham slammed an effort into the top right, making it five goals in five games for the new recruit.
The second half was mostly Fulham attacking, Sonny Hilton did well from a corner to get into the box with ball at feat, and Tahir had another shot from inside the area blocked.
70 minutes in and Abraham looked like had scored again except for an outstanding save. Kelly whipped a ball to the 6-yard line and a strong connection from Abraham, but a brilliant reaction save kept the two goal advantage.
Straight down the other end of the pitch Hilton gave away a penalty to add to Fulham’s woes. Ashby Hammond however, made an outstanding save of his own, getting across to the left and low to keep the ball out and keep hope alive.
In the 77th minute The Whites were back in the game. Jasper shot from the edge of the area, and with a big deflection the ball bounced awkwardly. Abraham and a defender fought for it, and he managed to get his leg in front of the defender and poke the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-2 and an interesting end to the match.
Fulham had several chances, Jasper with a hooked shot, Ryan De Havilland went close with a free kick. However in the 90th minute Orient made it 4-2.
The referee didn’t call a foul in midfield, and Orient broke down the pitch and slotted an effort that bounced in off the right upright to seal the victory.