Fulham Reserves (Home) 29.11.2004

With a much changed and very young side out, Spurs were always going to be hard pushed to take all the points from this encounter with a Fulham team that featured a forty-four year old keeper and an ex-Scottish international in midfield.  However, they did play some neat football, but lacked the cutting edge that has been seen in the last few weeks.  That was evident in the first attack of the evening, when Spase Dilevski was released through the Fulham defence by a shrewd Slabber pass and tried to chip over Beasant, for it was he who turned out in goal for the visitors, but could not quite get it over the top of his six foot plus frame.

The ref, who was involved all night and provided one of the highlights of the evening, was key to the lack of action.  His insistent whistle blowing and some poor assistance from his assistants did little to warm those watching in the stands.  It did quite the opposite to one man watching from his technical area though.  For Clive Allen was constantly bemused by the ref’s decisions and the lineman’s flagging.  He demonstrated with an impression of one linesman as to how he had watched the ball before flagging when it arrived at a Spurs forward’s feet and then got a lecture from the ref when he had a go when he got in the way of a perceptive pass by Yeates.  He booked four players in what was not a dirty game, but it was indicative of his handling of the game in general.

A good break saw Dilevski slip Slabber through, but having wriggled past his defender, he turned and pulled the ball back to … nobody in particular, leaving Fulham to clear comfortably.  A 28th minute free-kick to Fulham on the right wing was headed over at the far post by Watkins and six minutes later, a loose pass was collected by Slabber some 35 yards out and he tried to catch Beasant off his line, but his effort landed on the top of the net.

Just when it looked like a largely uneventful half was to end goal-less, Fulham took the lead.  McDermott got a bit of space on the right side of the box and hit a shot across Burch that went in off the far post.  There was just enough time to take the kick off and then it was half time.  A bad time to concede.

Spurs came out fired up and started with an intent to put some passes together.  This won a throw-in near the corner flag and when it landed at Slabber’s feet, he turned his marker close to the goal-line and pulled a cross back to Silva Sousa, who shinned it in past the diving Beasant for 1-1.  It was a well-worked goal and Sousa seems to be on fire at the moment, which is probably just as well, as he had to wear gloves tonight because of the cold !!

Fulham tried to hit back straight away and Noble hit a shot that Burch got down to save, then Silva Sousa returned the compliment by putting Slabber in and his low shot was saved but spilled by Beasant, who just managed to recover before Dilevski closed in to score.  After 64 minutes, Charlie Lee, stepping up from the Under-18s, hit another low drive and again it was fumbled, but Silva Sousa could not capitalise on the loose ball.

The game deteriorated into a midfield battle, with three further bookings … one for Richards for kicking the ball away, which drove Clive to despair.  The final chance for each side ended in narrow misses.  A 75th minute move finished with Collins John hitting a scorching volley a foot over the top, while for Spurs it came in the 85th minute, as Silva Sousa switched play to the right and allowed Dilveski to run in, but he could only hit an effort wide when he might have worked the keeper.

It was a little disappointing, but with so many changes in the side, it was not surprising that it was a little disjointed.  They still tried to play some good football and Mark Yeates was quiet, Richards and Defendi did what they had to do efficiently and the youngsters put in the effort to make sure Fulham were not allowed to play.  Silva Sousa takes the honours today, not just for his goal, but he also showed that he is becoming more of a team player now, with a couple of nice touches thrown in.  he might yet become a useful addition to the squad.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : –  Eddie Silva Sousa.

Marco van Hip

• Spotted at the game : –
  Martin Jol
  Dominique Cuperley
  Chris Hughton
  Frank Arnesen