It was set up to be a mouthwatering clash at Craven Cottage in the opening salvos of the Sky Bet Championship’s return to football. Home side Fulham aren’t just city rivals they are also rivals in the playoffs. It was a game set on a knife-edge.
First-half: the calm…
Fulham had some good chances early on in the first half with David Raya saving (9′) Aleksander Mitrovic’s powerful downward header as the home side threatened.
Harrison Reed (15′) then crashed one against the woodwork before former Leicester City forward Anthony Knockaert bent a follow-up chance just wide.
Brentford were making inroads and got quickly upfield with Tariqe Fosu (29′) smashing a shot at the Fulham goal that Marek Rody parried away to safety.
Twitter: Regardless of the scoreline, that’s probably the most entertaining 45 minutes English football has witnessed since… https://t.co/lfP9kyitYV (@FulhamFC)
Second-half: …before the late storm
Fulham were always going to be a threat with Mitrovic up front – a player of immense threat and class. He had the ball in the net (53′) only for offside to rule it out. Six minutes later, the Serbian international was threatening again, meeting a corner with a header that was too close to Raya in the Brentford goal.
Brentford continued to push and probe but were again thankful for Raya who saved (65′) Mitrovic’s diving header that looked to be heading in. After that save, you would be excused as a Fulham fan for thinking that it wasn’t to be your day.
That proved to be true just before the end of normal time. A ball across the face of goal was turned in by said Benrahma (88′) to give the Bees a late lead. Three minutes later, with Fulham pressing for an equaliser, it was game over. Emiliano Marcondes made it 2-0 for the visitors.
