Late goals lift Fulham out of drop zone

By

Fulham 3 Huddersfield Town 1

Late goals from Lasse Vigen Christensen and Ross McCormack saw Fulham extend their unbeaten league run and move out of the relegation zone.

Hugo Rodallega fired the Whites in front against the run of play midway through the first half and Fulham had to ride their luck in defence to see the lead through to the break.

Huddersfield, who twice had efforts cleared off the line, drew level 15 minutes from time as Joel Lynch met a free-kick with a towering header.

But parity lasted barely a couple of minutes as Rodallega fed Christensen to slot home, before McCormack applied a gloss to the scoreline with a thumping shot from the edge of the box.

Huddersfield will feel they were worthy of a draw, given the pressure they applied at times, but Fulham’s clinical finishing proved the difference.

Huddersfield twice came close to taking the lead in the first 20 minutes but Elsad Zverotic cleared Mark Hudson’s header off the line and Harry Bunn roll a shot wide when he had only keeper Marcus Bettinelli to beat.

When Huddersfield shot themselves in the foot again, this time at the other end, Rodallega was quick to pounce. Hudson’s poor control gifted the ball to the Colombian and after a neat exchange with McCormack, he drilled past the goalkeeper.

Rodallega should have doubled the lead in first-half injury-time but wastefully headed over and Huddersfield did their best to try and make him pay after the break.

Jacob Butterfield rippled the side-netting with a free-kick and a Bunn cross-shot was cleared from the goalmouth by Kostas Stafylidis.

They did eventually find the equaliser their pressure merited as Lynch rose highest to nod home a free-kick.

But Fulham immediately responded when Christensen played a one-two with Rodallega, slipped the ball past Hudson and then beat the keeper.

Rodallega fired just over the bar but on 84 minutes McCormack celebrated his first Craven Cottage goal, collecting a pass from Moussa Dembele before drilling home.

Fulham (4-4-2): Bettinelli; Zverotic, Bodurov, Burn, Stafylidis; Ruiz (Eisfeld 85), Parker, Christensen, Williams (Dembele 70); Rodallega, McCormack.
Subs: Kiraly, Hutchinson, Roberts, Woodrow, Hyndman.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook