Just like to remind those fans,who wish to see a team with enthusiasm and commitment that our under 21side is playing Newcastle at the Cottage on Friday the 18th ko at 7pm £3 admission,£1 seniors and juniors. Win loose or draw i am sure you will see a better performance than Jols jokers. (will be interesting if he is in attendance)
Tonights under 21s draw with Newcastle was not one of their better games,to many near goal misses by Fulham, where in fact it wouuld have been easier to score than miss,this allowed Newcastle to snatch a point, mainly due to the lack of speed and tackling ability of our two giant centre backs Buatu,& Arthurworrey. The bright spark in the proceedings was Dembele,who being promoted to the under 21s looked a class act and the scorer of our 2 goals,one a cracker on 21min the other a simple tap in on 75. I thought Etheridge who was given game time although over 21 gave a solid performance.
Agree with all that rosc. Here's my write up: SIZE=3]Fulham 2 Newcastle 2 (U21s)[/SIZE] Dembele at the Double No sign of young Root from Port Vale (although he may have been the third goal person in the warm up session, in which case he looked awful small for a keeper and his kicking was pretty weak). No sign again of Jack Grimmer, which is a bit worrying. The team was: Etheridge; Passley, Buatu, Arterworrey, Richards; Christensen, David; Mesca, Tankovic, Dembele, Plumain Subs: Jorenen, Minkwitz, Della Verde, Islamovic, O’Reilly We also had the pleasure of welcoming ex-Fulham player Peter Beardsley who saw his Newcastle team have a scare in the first minute when a Buatua header from a corner went narrowly over. Newcastle hit back though and a couple of minutes later their No 4 rattled Fulham’s cross bar. The game continued this way with Fulham looking the most likely to score with some good inter-passing and Plumain was causing all sorts of trouble with his dribbling and pace on the left. And Newcastle themselves threatening on the break. But it was left to Moussa Dembele to the decisive touch after 21 minutes. And a cracker it was. Newcastle couldn’t get the ball out of there box, Moussa swivelled thumped one from 18 yards into the top right hand corner. The game while still well contested and played at a fast pace, fizzled out in terms of chances after that. Again Fulham were the most likely but tended to over elaborate or misplaced passes. Captain for the night, Lasse Vigen Christensen, was particularly guilty in the latter - which is unusual for him. Nonetheless the team went in 1-0 up at half time and deserved that lead. Newcastle started the brighter in the second period and were rewarded with an equaliser 4 minutes after the restart. Their No. 6 hit a great cross field pass (he’d been doing this all night in fact) and an unfortunate slip by Tom Richards, let their No. 9 in to calmly slot it passed Etheridge. An inury to Freddy Plumain changed the shape of the Fulham side - Dino Islamovic came on in his place. And in fact it was now Newcastle more in control and Fulham threatening with breaks. In one of these, from a corner Etheridge caught, quickly threw the ball to Passley (somehow on the left). He bombed down the field, passed inside to Mesca who in turn crossed to Moussa Dembele close in - 2-1 to Fulham. Fulham then had their best spell, with a number of shots hitting the side netting and Christensen the bar. With quarter of an hour left Ronny Minkwitz came on for The Tank. Five minutes later Newcstle got their second equaliser. It was no consequence to that substitution but through slack defending by Passley and Buatu on the right which allowed the Newcastle No.11 shoot in from an acute angle. So it ended 2-2. It was a very good, well contested game with both teams showing some really good skills and pace. Overall, Fulham probably should have got all three points and Moussa three goals (he was very unlucky with two efforts late on). Just a final word on the main contenders for first team places. Etheridge had safe hands all night, good saves and commanding in his box. His kicking was woeful however. David was clever, strong, great awareness and particularly with cross-field passes. Yet again though he wanted to do too much (think Jimmy Bullard). Mesca had tremendous pace out on the right - he just needs to have a bit more composure and sometimes pass the ball! Another last word - on Freddy Plumain. Very impressive - hope his injury is not serious (he pulled up chasing the ball, so possibly hamstring although he seemed to be holding his knee).
