A Jack Russell, a dancing Irishman and those Burnley fans

Last updated : 10 February 2010 By Tony Scholes
A dark night for the Clarets at Craven Cottage

Any other result other than a Fulham win would have been totally unjust as they simply outplayed us on a night when they regained their best form and we struggled to come close to ours.

It was a night when things went against us; injuries and decisions in particular, but in all fairness we would have almost certainly have lost this game had they not done so.

But it cannot mask the fact that not one of the Fulham goals should have stood. Sitting and standing behind the goal behind Brian Jensen in the first half, I was oblivious to the fact that assistant referee Mike Bull was having a 'mare.

Text messages, and lots of them, should have reached my phone to tell me that they were both offside but I had no signal in Craven Cottage and I didn't receive any of the texts until I was back on the Boundary Clarets coach for the return journey.

Having now seen those goals from the television pictures you have to wonder just how on earth Bull didn't flag David Elm offside for the first goal, and then Bobby Zamora for the second. They are now credited with the assists for the goals but clearly neither should have stood.

Furthermore, referee Steve Bennett got it wrong with the third. The free kick was, if anything, our way, but Fulham got it and Zamora scored from the free kick.

Yes, Steve Bennett. He's the one who should have refereed our game against West Ham on Saturday only to be replaced at the last minute by Howard Webb. Again last night we had a late change with Bennett in for Chris Foy. Why this is suddenly happening only the refs organisation will know.

As for the game. Brian Laws made one change to the Burnley side with David Edgar coming in at left back, Danny Fox pushing forward and Robbie Blake dropping to the bench in an unchanged eighteen.

We started quite brightly to be honest and had most of the possession in the opening exchanges. Andre Bikey and Kevin McDonald looked prominent but the build up, as it has been all season on the road, was too slow and it was no surprise that we weren't able to create much in the way of chances.

Fulham weren't offering too much although Damien Duff, predictably getting some stick from the Burnley fans, was looking ominously threatening down Fulham's right.

With a quarter of the game gone we were level and had had no real worries. Then came the eight minutes that shaped the game and it was an eight minutes littered with errors.

It all started when Tyrone Mears gave away a corner under no pressure. Did he get a shout from Jensen? Either way, there was a real lack of communication. We cleared twice but never got possession of the ball again when Fulham hoisted a ball up to the offside Elm.

He won his header too easily against Edgar but then McDonald let Danny Murphy go, realised too late and he was onto it for 1-0.

If that wasn't bad enough, then came the second. Leon Cort was struggling and down on the bench they were getting Chris Eagles ready to come on. Fulham got the ball up to Zamora (offside), Bull let him go and Cort was struggling.

Zamora went inside him and got in a shot that was deflected off Cort. Jensen failed to deal with it and just nicely palmed it out to Elm with neither Carlisle nor Mears able to do anything about it. 2-0 and you knew it was all over.

There was no further damage in the first half but the third was just laughable. With less than ten minutes of the second half gone Zamora won a free kick against Edgar in the D on the edge of our box. Was it a foul? If it was, it was ours, but Bennett gave it the other way.

Jensen lined up his wall, with some strange help from Wade Elliott. He got it horribly wrong and left a gap that you could get a fleet of double decker buses through. Zamora just placed it through the gap and Jensen was helpless. Damn poor goalkeeping.

The game was up now. We knew it and so did Fulham who just strolled about for the rest of the game. We got our first sight of Jack Cork but it would be so unfair to judge anyone coming on at that stage in a game with us 3-0 down.

But then came the Jack Russell, the dancing Irishman and those Burnley fans. We'll take them in reverse order.

With the game gone the visiting supporters, and there was a big number in Fulham's neutral end, got to their feet and started to sing and chant. It continued right through to the end of the game and beyond. It didn't make losing 3-0 feel any better but it made your burst with pride being amongst it.

Standing to my left was an Irishman who, besides joining in the chants, started his own dance to it. For an Irishman it was hardly 'River Dance' but he seemed quite impressed with it. For more details; ask edison on the message board.

With the game continuing, Martin Paterson came on for David Nugent and immediately positioned himself alongside the massive Brede Hangeland. "It's like a Jack Russell against a Rottweiler," claimed the Irishman, who then proceeded to show me a video on his phone featuring his own dog Chester.

Chester was celebrating his birthday and playing with a balloon; it was so reminiscent of the Ian Moore days at Turf Moor.

Right at the death we got a shot on target from Eagles, it would have won the message board's Big Dave £60 in the First Goal Sweep had it gone in, so we cheered the save.

And then that was it; and a long journey back to Lancashire after a twelfth away defeat of the season in the league and a tenth without a goal. It will get better.

On the night our performance just wasn't good enough, and I certainly wouldn't wish to hide away from that. But, and I know everyone won't agree with this, I thought Fulham, on this showing, were one of the best teams we've played this season.

They weren't Chelsea (at Stamford Bridge in August) but I'd be hard pushed to think of many other sides who had played as well as this against us. They are so organised, they closed us down so quickly, yet their own pace and movement caught us (and Mr Bull) out far too often.

They really are a good side and what a fantastic job Woy has done there since taking over from the disaster called Lawrie Sanchez.

I'll keep an eye open for the aforementioned Bull; that performance should be looked at by those responsible and he should lose his place in the Premier League for a while. It is simply not good enough to get one of those decisions wrong. To get two wrong is beyond belief.

Finally, I have to comment on the neutral end at Craven Cottage. It's novel, and as far as I could see last night it works. I think it should be tried elsewhere and I'd love to see it happen some time at Burnley - maybe we could give it a shot on 28th March.

Thirteen games left, we can still do this, keep the faith and I'll refrain from using the last manager's request for raising the roof.

The teams last night were;

Fulham: Mark Schwarzer, Chris Baird, Aaron Hughes, Brede Hangeland, Nicky Shorey, Damien Duff (Bjorn Helge Riise 77), Danny Murphy, Dickson Etuhu, Simon Davies (Jonathan Greening 62), Bobby Zamora (Stefano Okaka 71), David Elm. Subs not used: Pascal Zuberbühler, Stephen Kelly, Chris Smalling, Erik Nevland.
Yellow Cards: Dickson Etuhu.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Leon Cort (Chris Eagles 31), David Edgar, Wade Elliott (Jack Cork 56), Kevin McDonald, Andre Bikey, Danny Fox, David Nugent (Martin Paterson 76), Steven Fletcher. Subs not used: Nicky Weaver, Michael Duff, Robbie Blake, Steven Thompson.

Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent).

Attendance: 23,005.