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Lead squandered to feisty Fulham

Michael Kenrick , 24 September, 0comments  |  Jump to most recent
Fulham 2 - 1 Everton
Everton fell to their first defeat under Roberto Martinez as a much-changed line-up surrendered the initiative to Fulham in the second half after a barnstorming first half hour.

Steven Naismith smacked home the opening goal on 12 minutes after an excellent run and brilliant through-ball from Gerard Deulofeu, but the Blues paid for their ensuing profligacy when the Cottagers upped their game after half time.

Dimitar Berbatov made no mistake when the ball broke to him in front of goal and Darren Bent came on to the winner. A late fightback almost yielded an equaliser but the impetus had been lost and Everton crashed out.

Match Summary

Martinez made changes to his team, with Darron Gibson a starter after missing the first six games of the campaign with a knee injury.

Romelu Lukaku was declared fit despite blacking out against West Ham following a clash of heads with a defender as he scored the winning goal but Leon Osman, who was withdrawn from that game after 52 minutes, is ruled out through injury.

Naismith smacked home the opening goal on 12 mins after an excellent run and brilliant through-ball from Deulofeu. Lukaku and Naismith continued to create or get on the end of promising chances as the first half progressed before a rather sparsely populated Craven Cottage.

Fulham put up greater resistance after the break, giving the Everton defence a little more to occupy them, Robles required to make a good finger tip save to parry a shot from Kacaniklic. So it was no real surprise when found himself in space with the ball at his feet and it was all too easy to slip home.

Bent came on after the hour mark and Bent scored rather easily through the legs of Robles to turn the tie on its head, with Martinez a little slow to respond to the situation, eventually putting Jagielka and Barry on in place of Heitinga and Gibson.

Coleman lashed a curling shot fractionally wide of the far post as the Blues looked to come back from a 2-1 deficit for the second game in a row in the Capital.

A fantastic move by Deulofeu deserved a goal but his shot bounded just the wrong side of the fsar post as the Blues went all out for a goal to keep them in the cup, with Mirallas on for Naismith. Mirallas went on a great run and fed Lukaku who could not dig it out, then he had a shot that was driven along the ground to Stockdale as the intensity approached panic levels, McCarthy getting booked for a somewhat 'professional' foul.

A fantastic sweeping move would surely tie it with two minutes left but instead of smashing the ball into the net, Coleman contrived to drive it at the goalkeeper's legs. An unbelievable miss that would see Everton's horrible record in this competition continue for yet another season as Roberto Martinez fell to his first loss as Everton manager.

Fulham: Stockdale; Zverotic, Senderos, Hangeland, Riise (74' Amorebieta); Taarabt (65' Bent), Karagounis, Parker Y:16', Kacaniklic; Kasami; Berbatov.
Subs not Used: Etheridge, Riether, Sidwell, Buomesca, Rodallega.

Everton: Robles; Coleman Y:79', Distin (C), Heitinga (70' Jagielka), Stones Y90+2'; Gibson Y:35' (70' Barry), McCarthy Y:84', Deulofeu, Oviedo, Naismith (80' Mirallas), Lukaku.
Subs not Used: Howard, Baines, Jelavic, Barkley.  


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