Brilliant Fulham crush 10-man Reading
Fulham 5 Reading 0
Chris Martin scored twice as Fulham produced one of their best displays of the season to reinforce their play-off credentials.
In a repeat of the thrashing of Huddersfield in October, the Whites dismantled high-flying Reading, who had won their previous five matches and conceded only once.
Although they were aided by Danny Williams’ sending off 11 minutes into the second half, the Whites were already 2-0 up at that stage having been dominant for much of the game.
Their opening goal was symptomatic of the anxiety within the Royals’ defence, as Chris Gunter – under no real pressure – nodded Ryan Fredericks’ cross into his own net.
That they were only a goal up at half-time might have raised fears of a repeat of a repeat of last weekend’s defeat at Brighton, when Fulham also led 1-0 having squandered a number of chances.
But they were dispelled just four minutes after the break when Martin’s crisply struck right-footed shot from the edge of the box doubled the lead.
Williams’ dismissal, after a brief tussle with the prone Stefan Johansen on the byline, just allowed Slavisa Jokanovic’s side even more space to wreak havoc.
Sone Aluko scored the third after a magical run saw him skip away from defenders on the right flank, cut inside and find the bottom corner.
The assistant referee initially raised his flag against Martin, sliding in the line as the shot came in, but the referee allowed the goal to stand.
A few minutes later, Johansen used the outside of his left boot to score the fourth and after Al Habsi had made a couple of saves to keep the score down, Martin struck with a free-kick late on to complete the rout.
Fulham: Button; Fredericks, Ream, Kalas, Malone; McDonald, Johansen (Parker 84); Aluko (Piazon 76), Cairney, Ayite (Kebano 87); Martin.
Subs not used: Bettinelli, Madl, Sessegnon, Smith.
