Up in 2018. Down in 2019. Up in 2020. Down in 2021. Fulham need to get off this rollercoaster ride of promotion and relegation they’ve found themselves on. After one final ‘up’, that is.
Yesterday’s draw at Craven Cottage left them disappointed, however, with Marco Silva feeling his side deserved more from a match they largely dictated against Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough.
It looked like Fulham were cruising to victory, courtesy of a first-half strike by Harry Wilson, their £12million signing from Liverpool. Then the visitors equalised in the 77th minute with their one and only shot on target, through Marc Bola.
'It's got to be them,’ said Wilson when asked who was the happier of the two teams.
Silva agreed: ‘Definitely. It was a frustration for us because we didn't achieve what we wanted. At this level when you are winning 1-0, you have to be clinical to score the second and kill the game.’
Warnock, 72, countered by saying Middlesbrough finished the match on top: ‘Had there been another five minutes we would've won it.
‘We haven't got the stars, the individuals that your Fulhams and the top clubs have got, but we have got a togetherness. Sometimes in football that's more important.’
Fulham will remain favourites for the title. They’ve got the players to return to the Premier League, including Aleksandar Mitrovic, who was booked inside 20 seconds here.
In the fifth minute, Fulham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga needed to stretch to avoid conceding an own goal on his debut after a surprise back pass by Antonee Robinson.
Wilson broke the deadlock before the half-hour mark, collecting the ball on the edge of the box before beating Joe Lumley with a low drive.
Bola, who passed a late fitness test to start, was then in the box to make it 1-1.
