Sunday Fulham Stuff (11/01/15)...

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Cardiff leave Fulham feeling blue

Cardiff returned to their blue kit and duly ended a five-game run without a Sky Bet Championship win with a 1-0 victory over Fulham.

Sean Morrison's first-half header proved enough to cap an emotional day in front of a bumper crowd at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The Bluebirds played in front of their second highest home attendance of the season just 24 hours after the decision by club owner Vincent Tan to finally back down over his controversial change of team colours.

And any hopes those supporters had that a return to blue from red would bring good fortune appeared promising as they opened the scoring in the 14th minute.

Aron Gunnarsson launched an arching throw into the box and Morrison's header had enough to cross the line despite Marcus Bettinelli getting a hand to it.

Cardiff tried the same again seven minutes later with another throw-in by Gunnarsson but this time Fulham's Kostas Stafylidis was on-hand to block Tom Adeyemi's header at the far past and then turn Peter Whittingham's effort for a corner.

Ross McCormack used to score plenty of goals for Cardiff and looked to pull the strings for Fulham behind the two strikers while Ryan Tunicliffe had a decent effort from distance that had Simon Moore, in for the injured David Marshall, at full-stretch.

Craig Noone provided plenty of width for Cardiff, forcing Shaun Hutchinson into conceding an early booking, and he almost set-up Kenwyne Jones for an easy finish. However Stafylidis was again on-hand to snuff-out the danger shortly before half-time.

It was the last telling contribution by the busy Trinidad and Tobago striker, who failed to emerge from a knock for the second half.

He was replaced by Alex Revell, who made his debut following his move from Rotherham, and the tall striker almost made a swift impact with a lay-off for John Brayford, who fired wide from the edge of the box. Left-back Scott Malone also made his first appearance after joining from Millwall.

Whittingham felled former team-mate McCormack, who fired his free-kick on target but lacked the speed to beat Moore.

Kit Symons rang the changes in a bid to spark his team into life with a double substitution, Alex Kacaniklic and Sean Kavanagh both coming on and were soon followed by Moussa Dembele. But it proved a fruitless effort from the Cottagers boss.

Cardiff dominated possession and territory but could not find a second goal to ease the pressure for the final stages.

Noone and Gunnarsson combined on the edge of the box but could not find a shot between them. Adeyemi rose highest at a corner only to head his effort over the bar while Revell fired a volley wide.

Fulham launched a series of attacks in the closing stages but lacked the touch to find a late equaliser.


http://www.espnfc.co.uk/english-league-championship/match/395160/cardiff-city-fulham/report?

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Fulham fail to spoil Cardiff City party as blue shirts return

Whites fall short at Cardiff City Stadium on day of celebration for hosts


Match action: Cauley Woodrow with John Brayford of Cardiff City
Cardiff City 1-0 Fulham

Fulham failed to spoil the party as Cardiff returned to their famous blue kit and duly ended a five-game run without a Championship win.

Sean Morrison's first-half header proved enough to cap an emotional day in front of a bumper crowd at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The Bluebirds played in front of their second highest home attendance of the season just 24 hours after the decision by club owner Vincent Tan to finally back down over his controversial change of team colours.

And any hopes those supporters had that a return to blue from red would bring good fortune appeared promising as they opened the scoring in the 14th minute.

Aron Gunnarsson launched an arching throw into the box and Morrison's header had enough to cross the line despite Marcus Bettinelli getting a hand to it.

Cardiff tried the same again seven minutes later with another throw-in by Gunnarsson but this time Fulham's Kostas Stafylidis was on-hand to block Tom Adeyemi's header at the far past and then turn Peter Whittingham's effort for a corner.

Ross McCormack used to score plenty of goals for Cardiff and looked to pull the strings for Fulham behind the two strikers while Ryan Tunnicliffe had a decent effort from distance that had Simon Moore, in for the injured David Marshall, at full-stretch.

Craig Noone provided plenty of width for Cardiff, forcing Shaun Hutchinson into conceding an early booking, and he almost set-up Kenwyne Jones for an easy finish. However Stafylidis was again on-hand to snuff-out the danger shortly before half-time.

It was the last telling contribution by the busy Trinidad and Tobago striker, who failed to emerge from a knock for the second half.

He was replaced by Alex Revell, who made his debut following his move from Rotherham, and the tall striker almost made a swift impact with a lay-off for John Brayford, who fired wide from the edge of the box. Left-back Scott Malone also made his first appearance after joining from Millwall.

Whittingham felled former team-mate McCormack, who fired his free-kick on target but lacked the speed to beat Moore.

Kit Symons rang the changes in a bid to spark his team into life with a double substitution, Alex Kacaniklic and Sean Kavanagh both coming on and were soon followed by Moussa Dembele. But it proved a fruitless effort from the Cottagers boss.

Cardiff dominated possession and territory but could not find a second goal to ease the pressure for the final stages.

Noone and Gunnarsson combined on the edge of the box but could not find a shot between them. Adeyemi rose highest at a corner only to head his effort over the bar while Revell fired a volley wide.

Fulham launched a series of attacks in the closing stages but lacked the touch to find a late equaliser.

Whites: Bettinelli; Grimmer, Bodurov, Hutchinson, Stafylidis; Parker; Tunnicliffe, Fofana (Kavanagh); McCormack; Woodrow (Kačaniklić), Rodallega (Dembèlè).

Subs (not used): Kiraly, Roberts, Williams, Burn.


http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/fulham-fail-spoil-cardiff-city-8419565?

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Bristol C 4 - 0 Notts County

Matt Smith netted his ninth goal in five as Bristol City returned to the top of League One with a 4-0 win over Notts County.

Matt Smith: In red-hot form

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was behind most of City's best first-half moves. His jinking run and low cross set up Joe Bryan to shoot the hosts ahead from close range in the eighth minute.

Smith, on loan from Fulham, doubled City's advantage just before the break with a similar finish after Luke Freeman had got behind the County defence to latch on to Wade Elliott's chip.

Emmanuel-Thomas settled any doubts about the outcome in the 62nd minute, taking a touch in a crowded penalty area and creating space to shoot low past Roy Carroll from 15 yards.

Centre-back Derrick Williams completed an emphatic victory with a cool low finish from Bryan's cross six minutes from time.

Carroll made good saves to deny Mark Little and Bryan, while disappointing County barely tested home goalkeeper Frank Fielding and were largely outplayed.


http://www.sportinglife.com/football/live/match-report/314609/-?

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Fulham boss confirms Regan Poole deal is close

ON HIS WAY: County defender Regan Poole

FULHAM manager Kit Symons has confirmed that the Championship strugglers are close to signing Newport County AFC defender Regan Poole.

The 16-year-old played the full 90 minutes as County climbed to third in League Two with a 1-0 win over Portsmouth today but it seems that he won't be at Rodney Parade for much longer.

Speaking after the Cottagers' 1-0 defeat at Cardiff City this afternoon, former Wales international Symons said a deal is nearly done for Poole.

"He's a good young player Regan and someone who we've been watching closely. He's a very good player," said Symons.

"The deal is looking very positive but I'm not sure it's actually done.

"I've met him and seen him on my trips down to Wales but I've not actually watched him play.

"Obviously playing first team football at his age does mature you.

"He's stepped up to the plate there and done really well, hence our interest in him but I think the first team (at Fulham) is a long way off."


http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/football/newportcounty/11716117._/?

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Manager Reaction

Fulham Manager Kit Symons left the Cardiff City Stadium unhappy the Whites could not convert their possession into goals after the hosts scraped a 1-0 win.

Sean Morrison's 14th minute goal was all that separated the sides in south Wales and Symons wants to see his players start hitting the target rather than playing the extra pass.

"We had very good possession, the lion's share, over 60%, but didn't create enough clear cut opportunities for all that possession," Symons said.

"It's something we work on but there needs to be an end product from all of that possession and we didn't really have it to be honest.

"We've got a lot of creative players and we made changes and brought on more creative players who have got a real forward threat.

"Like I said, we had some excellent possession throughout the game, and good periods in the game, but I think we need to be a little more speculative maybe. Rather than score that perfect goal, we need to get more shots away."
The moment which clinched all three points for the Bluebirds came from a launched throw-in from Aron Gunnarsson, a set play that that Symons was well aware of.

"We know they've got some big lads and set plays were going to be very important and, overall, we probably defended them okay apart from one long throw which was the decisive moment," he continued.

"He's got a long throw, they've got some big lads, obviously if you put the two together they are going to cause some problems.

"They scored the goal against Charlton the other week with the long throw so it is a weapon and they use it well.

"He was encroaching half way onto the pitch on occasions when he took it, like when the goal was scored. We focused on that and worked on it and we knew that it would be a real threat."

Although Symons accepts that a third league defeat in a row without a goal is a concern, the Fulham Manager believes it's a matter of time before the Whites turn it around.

"You look at most clubs in the Championship and they have little spells where things don't go so well," added Symons.

"I think I need to understand that, I'm not happy about it, but it was probably pretty much inevitable that at some stage we were going to get a spell where we have a few defeats on the spin, you've got to try to make sure that doesn't escalate.

"We go into a home game next Saturday against Reading, we'll be very positive and we'll be looking to win that game, end the run, and start a winning run.

"It could be a scruffy goal for us this time, off someone's backside or whatever, I couldn't care less to be honest. I want us to play well every game and entertain our fans and have plenty of chances and plenty of shots, but if it ends up being a scruffy, horrible game and we've got to nick it 1-0, then so be it."


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2015/january/10/manager-reaction

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Fulham boss claims Cardiff off-field issues galvanised Bluebirds to beat Cottagers

Fulham manager Kit Symons felt the atmosphere around the Cardiff City Stadium helped the Bluebirds to get one over the west London game after their 1-0 defeat to Russell Slade's side.

The Bluebirds played in front of their second highest home attendance of the season just 24 hours after the decision by club owner Vincent Tan to finally back down over his controversial change of team colours.

Cardiff's first league win in six games closed the gap on the Championship play-off positions to seven points but Fulham slipped down the table.

A game of few scoring chances was settled as early as the 14th minute when Morrison's header from an arching throw by Aron Gunnarsson had enough to cross the line despite a hand from Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.

Ross McCormack had Fulham's only chance but his free-kick was easily saved by Simon Moore, in for the injured David Marshall.

Defeat was a third in a row in the Championship for Kit Symon's Cottagers, who slip to 18th place.

He said: "It was always going to be hard for us coming here because that decision (over the colours) gave everyone at Cardiff City a lift. I came here two weeks ago to watch them against Watford and the atmosphere was very different.

"We had good possession but didn't create enough clear-cut opportunities for all the ball we had. We had excellent possession and good periods with the ball. We've got creative players and we made changes to bring on more creative players to get forward.

"But there are times when you need to be more speculative and get some shots in, rather than waiting and trying to score the perfect goal.

"We defended well apart from one long throw. We knew that would be a weapon for them given the size of some of their guys and they used it well. It caused us a few problems."


http://www.london24.com/sport/football/clubs/fulham/fulham_boss_claims_cardiff_off_field_issues_galvanised_bluebirds_to_beat_cottagers_1_3912191