Fulham entertained their local rivals Chelsea in the 1st leg
of the FA Youth Cup Final at Craven Cottage.
A decent crowd of 4,457 turned up to catch a view of some up and coming
superstars.
They had to wait until the 10th minute before the first
chance came when a deflected shot from Chelsea’s Isaiah Brown was saved by the
legs of Fulham stopper Marek Rodak. On
13 minutes another effort on goal from the away side saw Jordan Houghton’s long
range effort go wide. In the 15th minute Fulham had their first chance when a corner
was headed wide by their tall number five Cameron Burgess. Thus begun a period of pressure from the home
side as on 22 minutes there was a big penalty shout when George Williams went
down in the Chelsea box but the referee waved away their protests. Five minutes later another shout for a Fulham
penalty, this time for a handball, again was dismissed by the referee. However on 29 minutes the referee was pointing to the spot in Fulham’s favour,
third time lucky you might say, when Patrick Roberts was brought down but Moussa
Dembele’s spot kick was awful as he chipped it over the bar. This seemed to wake Chelsea up and on 35minutes they had the ball cleared off
line from a Jay da Silva shot before the follow up attempt from Isaiah Brown
was well blocked by Cameron Burgess. Chelsea then immediately had another
chance when Dominic Solanke got in on the left hand side but his effort was saved
by Marek Rodak. Four minutes later and Dominic Solanke was in for Chelsea again but his effort
was saved easily but from the following ball into the box Jordan Houghton found
himself with the ball about twelve yards out but his effort was again saved by
keeper Marek Rodak. This was the final act of the half as the score remained
0-0 with Fulham rueing that missed penalty no doubt. Chelsea came out in the second half with the bit between their teeth and carved
out a decent chance on 47minutes when Jay da Silva’s cut back to Ruben
Loftus-Cheek was ballooned over when Loftus-Cheek should have done much
better. However two minutes later the
boys in Blue had the lead. A ball across
to Jay da Silva, who had been causing problems down the left all evening, was
controlled well by the Chelsea winger before he unleashed a shot across Rodak
and into the far corner. Cue
celebrations in front of the Chelsea supporters occupying that part of the
stadium. Chelsea were flying by now and a minute later Dominic Solanke broke into the
box but his ball across goal drifted wide of the Fulham upright. On 55 minutes it should have been 2-0 to the
visitors when a corner into the box found the head of Jake Clarke-Salter but he
could only direct it wide of the post when he probably should have scored. For the next ten minutes or so Chelsea had more possession and Fulham had a
couple of moments in the Chelsea area as well, one a free kick which caused
some panic in the back four before keeper Bradley Collins was fouled, and
another moment where Fulham refused to shoot after a spot of pin ball in the
Chelsea area eventually was cleared. However Chelsea still looked the more
dangerous and the more likely to score again. But how wrong I was as Fulham turned the game on its head in nine second half
minutes. Firstly on 70 minutes a corner
from the left was nodded home by Moussa Dembele to make it 1-1. Immediately
after that Fulham stopper Rodak had to make a great save to deny da Silva. Then on 72 minutes Fulham took the lead. Emerson Hyndman drove at the Chelsea
back four before unleashing a shot from about twenty yards that beat Collins
down to his left and went in off the post to give Fulham a 2-1 lead. Marek Rodak then caused some panic in the
Fulham area when his attempted punch went up in the air instead of away but was
cleared eventually before Fulham’s night got even better on 79 minutes when
another corner was headed back across goal for centre back Cameron Burgess to
nod home unchallenged from six yards out to make it 3-1 and send the Fulham
faithful into a chorus of ‘Easy Easy Easy’.
It had been anything but to tell the truth but this turnaround came from
nowhere. However Chelsea regrouped and finished the last ten minutes strongly. Firstly
on 82 minutes Jay da Silva ghosted in at back post unmarked but his header was
saved by Marek Rodak’s legs before being scrambled away. Then a minute later
Chelsea found a goal when substitute Fankaty Dabo cut inside and struck a shot
past Rodak’s fingertips and into the corner to make the last few minutes
interesting indeed. With second’s of the ninety left Chelsea almost levelled the
tie when a corner was cleared out to Kasey
Palmer who hit his shot inches wide of the upright. Four minutes of added time was then played
with Fulham throwing bodies in the way of any Chelsea attempts as they
desperately tried to get an equaliser but Fulham held out to win a fantastic
game of football 3-2. The second leg is on May 5th at Stamford Bridge and if it’s
anything like this game you should be in for a treat.
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