Late Fulham goals see off 10-man Barnsley
Barnsley 1 Fulham 3
Fulham came from behind at 10-man Barnsley to win with late goals from Kevin McDonald and Ryan Sessegnon moving the Whites into the play-off places.
The match was heading for a draw until McDonald forced the ball home in added time to clinch the three points, before Sessegnon scored his second goal of the game and 11th of the season to secure a fourth straight league win.
Barnsley had gone ahead on the half-hour mark through a contentious goal from Liam Lindsay, but Dimitri Cavaré was sent off on the stroke of half-time and Fulham took advantage almost immediately after the restart to equalise through Sessegnon.
The 17-year-old slotted home a Ryan Fredericks shot that hit the post after excellent work by the right-back, although the Whites found it difficult to break down the home side throughout.
Aside from a powerful Stevie Mallan drive that was palmed away by Marcus Bettinelli in the opening minutes, the first 30 minutes proved largely uneventful.
But Barnsley edged themselves in front when Fulham were unable to deal with a corner and Lindsay directed the ball into the net, despite Bettinelli appearing to be impeded on the goal line.
After Cavaré was shown a second yellow card, having shoved Stefan Johansen in the back in retaliation to a bad foul by the Norwegian, Fulham piled the pressure on and were rewarded through Sessegnon.
Yet it took them until the dying moments to get past the Reds’ defence, with McDonald, who captained the side as Tom Cairney sat out again to rest his knee injury, getting the final touch in a goalmouth scramble.
And Sessegnon popped up again to finish a late counter-attack, moving the Whites into sixth place in the Championship.
Fulham: Bettinelli, Fredericks, Kalas, Ream, Odoi (Targett 46), McDonald, Norwood, Johansen (Kamara 69), Piazon (Kebano 62’, R. Sessegnon, Fonte.
Subs not used: Button, S. Sessegnon, Cisse, De La Torre.
