The Whites are staying up!
A great end to what has been the most nerve-racking of seasons. We’ve played some nice football to get ourselves out of this mess and credit to Hodgson he has got the team to win crucial games without playing boring long-ball or scrappy football.
Reflecting back on the game it was tight as I predicted, but Fulham held strong and found the net with just a quarter of an hour remaining. The Whites were in position to be relegated before they scored with both Reading and Birmingham winning in their games, but there was absolute pandemonium when Murphy’s header hit the back of the net.
Portsmouth had their chances but Fulham’s defence remained strong. There was another top performance from Hangeland, as he dealt with everything the Pompy attack threw at him. A man of the match display in my opinion. He was magnificent. The rest of the defence coped well too.
In the midfield, Murphy and Dempsey had good games. Not classic performances, but both showed great work-rate. A perfect illustration was Dempsey’s block on Defoe in the first half to stop an almost certain goal. Bullard looked leggy and didn’t have his best game but put in a lovely cross for the goal. Davies was quiet by his usual standards, but still put in a good shift on the right side of midfield.
I have to give a special mention for Kasey Keller. Alright, our goal was not bombarded with shots, but the American had a very solid game in the circumstances and came for every ball he should. He also made a couple of decent saves to deny Krankjaer, who was Portsmouth’s man of the match in my opinion.
Up front Kamara was OK. He gave his all, but I’m still not sure that he’s up to it. Some of his decision making is poor – choosing to run with the ball on many occasions when a swift pass would have helped play develop much more effectively. McBride, in what could be his last performance for Fulham, had a quiet game by his standards. He still won the ball and kept possession well but didn’t have many goal-scoring opportunities. The introduction of Nevland was crucial in my opinion. He worked his socks off and got in the faces of the Pompy players both before and after the goal.
All-in-all it was a solid performance from Fulham and they never really looked in any real danger, although Defoe almost lobbed Keller in the first-half. That was their best chance and after that Fulham went from strength to strength and came up with the goods.
It’s been a frustrating season, but one I will remember for the rest of my life. There’s no doubting Hodgson has done a great job at Fulham, winning 4 out of the last 5 games, and hopefully Al Fayed will give him his full backing with some money to spend this summer. Roy just has a great attitude and the players clearly rate him. I’ve got a feeling he could get some decent players in and build on what he has started in the last few months.
I can’t wait for another season in the Premiership!
COYW!
