Fulham v Preston North End, Craven Cottage, 14/10/2017 3pm Championship A trip to the banks of the Thames after the International break for a game against a rapidly improving Fulham side, after a slow start they are now in 10th three points from the Play offs and have a squad which in my view will go very close to promotion. Quality passing side with pace to burn they also seem to hold a sign over us at the moment having won the last three league games plus a friendly in the last 18 months. Surprisingly lost out to the dull side that is Reading in the Play Offs last season, they have recruited well, six players on loan, two from Chelsea, also from Liverpool, Brighton and Porto they suppolement the talented players like Cairney and Sessegnon, suspect we will not see a lot of the ball this Saturday but think they may give us chances when we attack, could be very entertaining this one. Last time out for Fulham Fulham (4-3-3) 27 David Button 2 Ryan Fredericks 26 Tomas Kalas 13 Tim Ream 3 Ryan Sessegnon 16 Oliver Norwood 6 Kevin McDonald 8 Stefan Johansen 19 Sheyi Ojo 9 Rui Fonte 22 Yohan Mollo Substitutes 1 Marcus Bettinelli 4 Denis Odoi 15 Michael Madl 23 Marcelo Djalo 7 Neeskens Kebano 17 Jordan Graham 44 Ibrahima Cissé Hopefully Pearson will return he was badly missed against Sunderland, missed that crunching tackle in mid field, he's been out for nearly two months but has been in full training recently. Possibility Gallagher will be over his shingles, no news on Welsh though. Won't be many changes from Sunderland but hopfully the two week break will have refreshed the team as some of them looked tired two weeks ago. Stat Attack: Fulham please log in to view this image We find ourselves on the north bank of the Thames for the 32nd time at the weekend, looking to add to our tally of nine wins at Craven Cottage. please log in to view this image Draws are rare in this fixture, with only five to date. The most recent of these came two seasons ago, when Joe Garner’s first half strike was cancelled out by a typical Ross McCormack free kick quarter of an hour from time. Our first visit to Fulham was over 100 years ago, back in 1912, but there have been long periods when our paths have not crossed. We didn’t meet again until 1915 and then it was ten years before we faced each other again. There was an 18 year gap either side of the Second World War and it was only in the 70s, 80s and 90s that we faced each other with any long term regularity until 2000, when we recorded our most recent win. It was to be another 15 years until we met again in the draw mentioned earlier. Two games stand out from our joint history of league games at Craven Cottage. In 1978, Mick Baxter managed the surprisingly common defender’s achievement of scoring for both sides in the same game. Sadly his goals did not swing the game in our favour, as we went down 5-3 in the highest aggregate score in this fixture. More memorable from a North End point of view was our 1-0 victory in 1971, which allowed us to pinch the third division title from our hosts two days later. England manager Sir Alf Ramsey was present at Craven Cottage to present the trophy to Fulham, but Ricky Heppolette’s diving header in the first half and some stunning goalkeeping from Alan Kelly senior saw us spoil the Londoners’ party. Let’s hope for a similar outcome on Saturday. please log in to view this image On This Date One of our nine wins at Fulham came on this date in 1959, when a flurry of late goals saw us come out on top 2-1. England captain Johnny Haynes gave Fulham a 73rd minute lead, but 12 minutes later, goals from Derek Mayers (76) and Sammy Taylor (85) secured us the first division points. Of the nine away league games we have played in this date, history is on our side with four wins and two draws. Two former loan players at Deepdale celebrate birthdays on 14th October. Icelandic international Thordur Gudjonsson joined us from Las Palmas in the Spanish League in 2002 and made eight appearances during his month at the club. Someone born much closer to Deepdale, Clarke Carlisle, is 38 on Saturday. Clarke made 28 appearances and scored three goals having moved from Burnley on a season’s loan in 2011/12 before he moved on to Northampton Town – we wish him all the best after his recent difficulties. Kevin Kilbane also made his North End debut on 14th October 1995 in a 3-0 win at Torquay United. Last Five Games At Fulham Fulham 3 (Aluko, Martin, Kebano) Preston North End 1 (Barkhuizen), 4th Mar 2017 Fulham 1 (McCormack) Preston North End 1 (Garner), 28th Nov 2015 Fulham 0 Preston North End 1 (Appleton), 24th Oct 2000 Fulham 3 (Moody, 3) Preston North End 0, 9th May 1999 Fulham 2 (Brazier, Collins) Preston North End 1 (Macken), 4th Apr 1998 Ref Watch: Fulham please log in to view this image For our first game after the international break we have a match official who will be taking charge of his second North End game of the season, Darren England. The referee for the clash at Craven Cottage is in his first year on the Select Group Two list and was the match official for our game at Middlesbrough in August – that was second time he had taken charge of a Preston North End game, all away from Deepdale. His first game was the final match of the 2016/17 season, and it was his first Championship game, in the fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. Last year, in total, he took charge of charge of 42 games, including the one in the Black Country, issuing 121 cautions and nine red cards in those fixtures and was chosen to referee the League Two Play-Off Final involving Blackpool at Wembley. So far this season, he has officiated in ten games, including ours in the north east, and has issued 34 cautions and one red card, his last game being Brentford’s 3-0 win at Bolton Wanderers’ Mascron Stadium on 23rd September. This Saturday he will be assisted by Matt Foley and James Mainwaring and the fourth official will be another from the Select Group Two list, Simon Hooper.
Although deserved to win, a point won not two lost. That awful pundit Mark Clements nearly gagged when admitting NE were up to 2nd when they were 0-2 up! What the game showed is that Pearson is important for the team. He obviously was not totally match fit. It seems when he was substituted, and even though Welsh replaced him, Fulham dominated. This game shows that NE is an important threat to the favourites. I have been to their little ground on the Thames. I think it was 1971. NE won 0-1. It may have been 1972. I have a feeling that one could look down onto the Thames from one of the terraces. Hope you had a good day, Mac. I no longer live in Barnet but in Norfolk. So, I could not attend the game. Not every supporter can.
Fulham 2 Preston North End 2 Fulham line-up: Button, Sessegnon, Odoi, McDonald ©, Kebano (Cairney, 46), Johansen (Mollo, 71), Fonte, Ayite, Ream, Norwood, Kalas. Subs not used: Bettinelli, Soares, Graham, Djalo, Cisse. PNE line-up: Maxwell, Woods, Earl, Pearson (Welsh, 59), Huntington ©, Davies, Barkhuizen (Robinson, 71), Johnson, Hugill, Maguire (Harrop, 30), Browne. Subs not used: Hudson, Vermijl, Boyle, Mavididi. Attendance: 18,435 (1,736 PNE fans) This felt like a defeat, being seconds away from an extremely hard fought victory after going into a two goal lead at half time, in fairness to the home side, they put us under a bit of pressure in the second half, spent most of the last 15 minutes with everybody in the penalty area trying to keep them out and it was probably no surprise that they scored late on to give them a probably deserved point. Two crucial events happened at half time Cairney was brought on and the influential Scot certainly made Fulham ticked couple this with the loss of both Barkuizen and Pearson gave Fulham the upper hand in the latter stages. The only surprise in the opening 15 minutes was the lack of goals could have been 3 all, Maguire denied by a last ditch tackle had also dwelled on the ball far too long when well placed and Browne fired straight at keeper Button when well placed, whilst three Fulham efforts in the space of 15 seconds were kept out by North End with Maxwell pulling off a great save to deny Johansen, Fonte had also gone close. What was noticeable was the home defence was a bit suspect in the first half and it was found missing in action when Maguire scooted down the left headed foir the box pass to Hugill one up. Seven minutes later it was two more poor defending, Barkuizen cut in from the right fired off a shot which clipped team mate Maguire and went in. Fulham went close from a corner but a header for Fonte just went wide, North End also lost Maguire who pulled up injured, possible hamstring injury. Oncme Cairney and the seige began, McDonald hit a post, think it was Huntington who cleared from the line, looked odds on Fulham reducing the deficit but we hung on in there and managed to get down the other end and had chances to wrap the game up but Harrop twice took ten touches too many and the chances were lost. With 16 minutes left the second seige of our goal was well under way when Woods brought down Fonte in the area, Norwood did the business from the spot. Hanging on for grim death defending so deep we were almost in teh Hammersmith seats. Basically down to 10 as Johnson was affected by cramp. Five minutes went up, in the sixth minute long hopeful ball into the box, out came Maxwell miles from goal failed to collect ball ran to Odoi snap shot and in it went. A rather cheesed off walk back to the station probably not the only one who felt like that. Always a good trip to Fulham and if you go the walk from Putney Bridge down the side of the river is just great, friendly club as well. Preston boss Alex Neil: "Chris has come and collected so many crosses for us this season that have relieved pressure, and won us points, so I'm not going to be critical of him in terms of being an aggressive goalie, coming to try and help his team. "Time was up. The fourth official showed me his watch. It was 95 minutes and it started going to 20 and 30 seconds and the referee allowed them to put another ball into the box. "We hunted and pressed and grafted and ratted them all over the pitch and they couldn't deal with it. "We need to have more quality in the final third. But I can't ever question commitment and work rate." Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic: "They didn't surprise us, they are one of the best teams off the ball, we are one of the best teams on the ball. "They put us under great pressure and after we made mistakes they could have scored more goals. We didn't find a solution for the physical part of the game. "In the second half we connected with a few more passes and took more risks and I believe we deserved this point. "We lost a few points at home in the last minute and today we won one in the last minute so we are satisfied." Referee: Mr D England
