Fulham 3 Blackburn 0- Clint Dempseys double another sickener for Sam Allardyce
25 Nov 2009 - 23:39:43
It was a good job Sam Allardyce stayed away from Craven Cottage lastnight.
Blackburn's boss, told to rest up before his heart operation later thisweek, would have been left distraught by the events.
The evening started badly for Rovers, got worse in the middle andfinished miserably thanks to Clint Dempsey's late double.
Cool Cottage: Dempsey and Duff celebrate Fulham's second
Erik Nevland provided the much-needed spark for Fulham, whose heavyschedule seemed to have caught up with them during a lifeless openingperiod.
The Norwegian's goal two minutes before the break was their first shoton target, just about placating supporters who had been left distinctlyunimpressed until that point.
They had possibly been hoping for changes to the team followingSaturday's defeat at Birmingham. It was widely expected that Hodgsonwould recall Danny Murphy or Andy Johnson. In the event, neither evenmanaged a spot on the bench.
Allardyce's condition would certainly not have been helped by what tookplace inside the first two minutes. Keith Andrews' pass did not appear, at first glance, to warrant thedescription 'defence-splitting'.
However, so slow was the reaction of the home defence that Franco diSanto had time to perform a trick, running his foot over the ball,before firing goalwards.
In pursuit: Paul Konchesky is chased by El-Hadji Diouf
Mark Schwarzer was equal to the shot, savinglow to his right.It's a fair bet Allardyce would have preferred the job finished,without the fancy detail beforehand.
The first quarter passed without further incident. Blackburn playmakerDavid Dunn was at the hub of almost everything worthwhile. PaulRobinson cut a lonely, isolated figure in Blackburn's goal.
Both teams should have headed for their half-time cuppa to a chorus ofboos. It took four passes for Nevland to change the atmosphere in aninstant.A one-two with Bobby Zamora enabled him to feed Damien Duff.
Nevlandreceived the ball back and fired inside the right post.Within three minutes of the re-start, Dempsey had wasted a gloriousopportunity to secure victory. Jonathan Greening's deep free-kick wasmissed by everyonebar the American, whose woeful attempt left severalcolleagues holding their heads in their hands.
Tussle: Brede Hangeland and Franco Di Santo battle it out
Dempsey made amends when Duff's cross deflected off Pascal Chimbondaand the forward was presented with another simple chance from sixyards.
This time, his aim was true, as it was again in the 89th minutewhen he made it 3-0 with a shot on the turn.
Fulham (4-4-2): Schwarzer 7, Pantsil 6, Hughes 6,Hangeland 6, Konchesky 6; Duff 8, Greening 6, Baird 6, Dempsey 6;Nevland 7, Zamora 5. (Gera 59min, 6).
Blackburn (4-4-2): Robinson 6; Jacobsen 6, Samba 6, Nelson 5, Chimbonda 5; Grella6, Andrews 6, Dunn 7, Diouf 4; Di Santo 4, (Kalinic 66, 6) Roberts 5(McCarthy 66, 5)Man of the match: Damien Duff.Referee: Stuart Attwell.
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce's heart problems a wake-up call to all managers, warns Fulham's Roy HodgsonHow Wednesday's Premier League action unfoldedFULHAM FC
