Source: Daily_Mail
Fulham 0 Stoke 1: Etherington's late strike lights up the Cottage
This wasn't so much a battle for 10th place as a struggle to stay awake until Matthew Etherington's winner spoiled Fulham's pre-Europa League final party at Craven Cottage.[LNB]Stoke joined the illustrious list of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Aston Villa the only other teams to win at Fulham this season and moved into the top half of the table.[LNB]But of more concern to Fulham manager Roy Hodgson were the knocks picked up by his side seven days before the most important game in the club's 131-year history. [LNB] Pure delight: Matthew Etherington (second left) woke up Craven Cottage with his rasping volley[LNB]Damien Duff left the field at half-time nursing a calf injury andBrede Hangeland, Dickson Etuhu and Clint Dempsey all felt the effectsof Stoke's bully-boy tactics.[LNB]Hodgson said: 'We know what Stoke do and we stood up to it well. Forlarge parts of the game, we passed it around them, but you can't takenext week's match out of my players' minds, thinking about strongchallenges and injuries.[LNB]'Duff took a kick a while ago and it might be cramping up one of hismuscles. That was a blow. But when you play Stoke you expect a physicalgame, home or away.' [LNB]Bobby Zamora, Fulham's top scorer with 19 goals this season, misseda second match in succession with an achilles injury, making him a bigdoubt for the final against Atletico Madrid next Wednesday.[LNB] Ful focus: Fulham's Clint Dempsey under pressure from Robert Huth[LNB] Fulham fans left furious over Europa League final ticket fiascoFulham join the likes of Millwall, Middlesbrough, Cardiff and Rochdale in Sportsmail's list of unlikely cup finalistsFULHAM FC
