Playing with the handbrake off
Having to play more than 20 minutes with 10 men, even with a two-goal advantage, is far from ideal, but you would not have known Fulham were a man light after Harry Wilson’s dismissal. In fact, Marco Silva threw caution to the wind and introduced Ivan Cavaleiro to the action, who went and scored our fourth of the afternoon a mere 30 seconds after coming on, before grabbing a second deep into stoppage time.
Bobby’s hat-trick of assists
Bobby De Cordova-Reid marked his first start under Silva with a trio of brilliant assists. They demonstrated the many strings to his bow, too, with each of them completely different. His first came when he escaped his marker and leapt highest to nod Wilson’s corner onto Josh Onomah, number two showed deft footwork – including a cheeky nutmeg – to tee up Fabio Carvalho, and his third was a Xabi Alonso-esque ball over the top for Cavaleiro’s first.
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Mitro off the mark
While pessimists will point to the fortunate nature from which Aleksandar Mitrović’s opener came about, it wouldn’t have happened had the Fulham number nine not chased down what could have been seen as a lost cause. He also had to adjust his body position to try and direct the ball towards the goal, and he managed a correct enough angle to send it into the net. In addition to his goal, his all-round performance was excellent, and Silva was understandably pleased with his contributions: “He scored once but he had lots of good moments, he helped the team and he did good work in the side. That’s the most important thing for me.”
Fans rewarded
Travel to and from Huddersfield wasn’t plain sailing for the Fulham faithful, with flat tyres and cancelled trains to contend with, but hopefully the 800+ who made the 400-mile round trip will feel it was more than worthwhile! It was the first away day for our supporters since Bristol City 15 months ago, and the team certainly put on a show for them.
Biggest away win for 22 years
The last time Fulham won by a four-goal margin on the road came under Paul Bracewell early on in the 1999/00 season, when we won 4-0 at Carrow Road against Norwich City in the League Cup. Paul Peschisolido gave us a half-time lead that night, and efforts from Lee Clark and Wayne Collins followed Adrian Coote’s own goal to put us in control of the two-legged tie, which we would go on to win 6-0 on aggregate.
