COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY

From My Seat: Fulham (H)

By Ken Buckley   ::  28/04/2012 A trip to hospital on Thursday afternoon for a fitness test sees me given the all clear so it was Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.

Nothing seemed to have changed since I have been sidelined, that black scouse humour met me as I entered my loveable North Liverpool watering hole, the gang we always meet were there and after a bit of banter things settled down and the chat turned to the performance at Man Utd but that could not disguise the lingering regret of the team not turning up for a Cup semi at Wembley.

The walk up to the ground saw a muted procession and the length of the queue at the Blue Dragon chippy seemed shorter than usual. I heard on ?Bluewatch? that today the last ever edition of ?Speak from the Harbour? was on sale but not a seller in sight. Were these omens that we may lose at home to Fulham for the first time since 1948? Not a bit of it as the Blues gave us a performance akin to Barcelona with bite.

Almost 32,000 of us turned up of which Fulham contributed no more than 4 taxi loads which, as things turned out, was just as well. The team was as per Old Trafford and took no time at all to spray the ball about and create chances. With just over 5 mins gone Pienaar and Distin had a nice combination down the left and when Pienaar cut infield he was grounded some 6 yards outside the area. Jelavic elected to take it and as the ball reached the wall somewhere around head height an arm or arms came into contact with it. "Penalty!" yelled the faithful, referee Dowd agreed and the spot kick given. It was immediately obvious that Jelavic would take as he commandeered the ball. Fulham tried all the off-putting tricks but when the ref finally signalled take, Jelavic showed a cool striker's head and lashed home giving the keeper no chance. We were all delighted.

We continued with the joined-up stuff but on ten mins Fulham found themselves on the edge of our box and Dembele hammered one in which Howard did wonders to get something on and the ball was diverted over. A warning, I thought... but no, we continued in joined-up mode and won a free kick that Heitinga insisted on taking but hammered well over.

Still we came forward and it was measured build up as the quarter hour mark proved. A passage of passing back and forth across the back line saw Jagielka hit a long forward pass that found Jelavic who squirmed and turned and hit the post then won a corner. Osman who was making his 300th appearance put in a good un and Fellaini somehow got himself unmarked and had a free header with which he made no mistake. We were once again all delighted yet the crowd celebration overall was still just a little muted.

The Blues continued with silky joined-up stuff in confident mode yet not getting too carried away as to forget to defend as Fulham had the odd foray forward. Dempsey (Everton summer target?) hit one over then shortly after hit one that got deflected yet somehow Howard managed to change direction and throwing out a hand managed to tip the ball over via the top of the bar a truly outstanding save.

With half-time looming, Pienaar sent Jelavic scampering through and he had to win a race with the Fulham keeper which he did but was driven wide. He turned back and cut in and whilst everyone was expecting a cross he elected to shoot and from a tight angle hammered a shot that seemed to go through Schwarzer and between post and defender on the line. His tenth goal and all celebrated as 3-0 suggested game over or maybe not.

Half-time and whilst most were happy enough, that Wembley thing kept creeping into conversations.

Second half and Gibson did not reappear and was replaced by Cahill which resulted in Fellaini moving back one and Cahill behind the Croat. The game continued but you could just tell both sets of players knew it was all but up. The Blues continued in joined-up mode with only Jags having the long punts forward. He had put Jelavic in with a beaut first half and seemed determined to repeat the feat; he didn?t.

The game moved on to the hour mark and, after what seemed like minutes of clever inter-passing back and forth, Pienaar found himself near the edge of the box and chipped a quite delightful ball into the path of Cahill who?s early strike caught the keeper unbalanced and the ball passed into the far corner for a quite delightfully worked goal. Jelavic almost got his hat-trick when he hit a curling free kick that the keeper did well to push behind at full stretch. A good save that.

The game livened a little when the passing became quicker and it was obvious that the players were doing all they could to get Jelavic his hat-trick. On 75 mins the manager rested Fellaini and gave some game time to Ross Barkley. I thought the manager did really well in moving Cahill back into the Fellaini slot and putting Barkley up with Jelavic where he could operate without compromising the defence in any way that might knock his confidence. He did ok without doing much and at times looked a little overawed.

Before the end, Schwarzer made good saves from Osman and Pienaar. Magaye Gueye came on for Pienaar and that was about it as the whistle sounded. Anyone who waited for the players to come off will have noticed Distin was last off after he had clapped and waved to all sides of the ground. That Wembley rick is still lying heavy on his mind.

MotM ? Take your pick as all played well but I thought the most assured player was Heitinga and I enjoyed his whole match contribution. Jelavic will always get a mention as he always looks like scoring goals and does.

Overall, after my enforced lay-off, I really enjoyed my day out and revelled in some of the joined-up stuff on display, just shows we can do it... the trick is doing it when it really matters. I thought the manager did well today in overseeing our general play and making subs when required, enforced or not.

The crowd were in quite subdued mode and it took until the hour mark and Cahill?s goal for a sustained and loud "If yer know yer ?Istory" to be heard shortly followed by "He has got red hair but we don?t care?.

I wonder how long it is since we have scored 4 goals in 3 consecutive league matches, any statos out there?

Stoke and Wolves away then Newcastle at home. 9 points would be nice and 4 goals per game to us would be the icing on the cake.
See you there
UP THE BLUES

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