All square against Fulham

Last updated : 13 December 2009 By Tony Scholes
Wade Elliott
Wade Elliott - volleyed home the equaliser
A Wade Elliott volley on the hour, that equalised an opener from the impressive Bobby Zamora was enough to share the spoils against an extremely well organised, if not over ambitious, Fulham side.

It was played in front of the lowest Turf Moor attendance of the season although that shouldn't have come as any surprise. I think it must have been a first for the Premier League that the away club had forgot to put tickets on sale for the game. There can be no other explanation for the expanse of the away stand left empty as if it were a Championship game against someone like Colchester.

Maybe they wouldn't have come anyway. Let's face it, Fulham successes at Turf Moor are few and far between. We had a King on the throne the last time they won here and incredibly this was the first point they've taken home with them for over 28 years. That was in the season we won the Third Division with Fulham also winning promotion. Gordon Davies got both their goals that day in a 2-2 draw with Billy Hamilton and Steve Taylor scoring for Burnley.

I suppose, given that record, we sensed this one might be a home win, but we had considered that without looking at how good a side Fulham have become under Roy Hodgson. The disaster that was Lawrie Sanchez is long gone and this is now a very difficult to beat Fulham side.

Ahead of the game there were no surprises in the Burnley team. Having served his suspension, skipper Steven Caldwell came straight back in with Andre Bikey moving back into the midfield at the expense of Kevin McDonald who returned to the bench where there was also a welcome back for David Nugent, ineligible the week before.

We've started games well this season, particularly at home. We've scored early in many of the Turf Moor games that have helped us build this impressive home record so far. That was not the case this time as Fulham started better than any team that's been to our ground for quite some time.

They probably should have scored in the first minute through Damian Duff, already receiving his fair share of abuse from the stands because of a previous club. Brian Jensen made it easy for him by coming and stopping but Duff put his effort too high.

Jensen was quickly in the spotlight again, in fact twice, but on both occasions he was more than up to it with two good saves. The first was with his feet and the second, again from Duff, he did really well to get a good hand on it to push it well wide of goal.

A Robbie Blake snap shot apart, it hadn't been a good start for the Clarets, but we did get into our stride eventually and for a short time the game seemed to have a quality about it with both sides passing the ball well.

It didn't last and both became guilty of giving the ball away far too easily. Burnley were the biggest culprits and we wasted numerous opportunities to build attacks with careless passing of the ball.

Fulham never looked particularly threatening. They were the better side but didn't create too much although Zamora was proving to be a handful. This week his manager had said he was the best in England of his type. I'm sure many scoffed at that, and it may be far fetched, but his performance here went some way to justifying the comment.

If there was any real excitement during the first half then it must have come in the 90 seconds or so I missed as I made my way down for a half time Clarets Mad cheque presentation ahead of the half time whistle which signalled only the second goalless first half at the Turf this season.

Fulham had been the better of the two sides and I did think that had they pushed a little bit more then they could have had more reward. But they were more than equal to anything the Clarets could muster during a disappointing 45 minutes.

I thought we'd started the second half a bit brighter but just five minutes in we went behind. Steven Fletcher was pulled up for a foul on Brede Hangeland just outside the centre circle in the Fulham half.

Chris Baird took the free kick quickly and played it up to Zamora who was able to get past Caldwell too easily. From a tight angle he got his shot just right, tucking into the bottom corner having shot across Jensen.

There was some fuss over the referee's part here but the only quibble could be the free kick was taken a few yards away from the offence, although they didn't actually move the ball forward. I'd certainly no problem with Jones' involvement in this goal.

It was the first time we'd been 1-0 down at home since we played Crystal Palace last March and Owen Coyle reacted by bringing on Nugent for Blake. Four minutes after the change we drew level with a goal that was so much like our first Premier League goal against Manchester United.

Full credit to Nugent who chased a hopeless cause in our right wing position. His reward was a thrown in and from that throw Elliott put a poor cross into the box that came out to Alexander.

Grezza played it out to Eagles who laid it back for Jordan to cross the ball back in. It was headed by a defender straight to Elliott who volleyed home giving Mark Schwarzer no chance. It was an excellent finish from Wade although nothing like the powerful finish by Blake against United.

Could we go on and win it from there? Unfortunately we couldn't, but the performance was certainly much improved as we went for it. Fulham seemed more than content with what they'd got for much of the second half and in truth we probably didn't create much in the way of clear opportunities.

McDonald came on for an out of sorts Bikey and I felt he gave the performance a lift and some added impetus for the last quarter of an hour or so. It was the sort of stuff that we want from him, and he'll have a regular place in the side if he can do that with some consistency.

But in the end we had to settle for a point. "Is it a point gained, or two points dropped?" I heard someone say as we left the ground. There's no doubt at all for me, it's a point gained as is every one we get in this league.

I've likened it to the church roof appeal. You know the one where the big thermometer is placed outside going up as each £1,000 is raised. That's what our Premier League season is like for me, with each point moving us up the thermometer until we reach 40. We've moved up one with this draw and that takes us closer to what realistically was the one target we surely set ourselves in August, to stay in this league.

We're doing OK you know. Watch a bit of Championship football on television and that will tell you how much we've improved. I would have loved to have won yesterday, we all would, but there was nothing to get too despondent about. We are one point closer to safety.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Andre Bikey (Kevin McDonald 78), Chris Eagles (Fernando Guerrero 86), Wade Elliott, Robbie Blake (David Nugent 56), Steven Fletcher. Subs not used: Diego Penny, Christian Kalvenes, Joey Gudjonsson, Steven Thompson.

Fulham: Mark Schwarzer, John Paintsil, Brede Hangeland, Aaron Hughes, Paul Konchesky, Damian Duff, Chris Baird, Jonathan Greening, Clint Dempsey, Erik Nevland (Zoltan Gera 77), Bobby Zamora. Subs not used: David Stockdale, Danny Murphy, Bjorn Helge Riise, Chris Smalling, Kagisho Dikgacoi, David Elm.
Yellow Cards: Jonathan Greening, Paul Konchesky.

Referee: Mike Jones (Chester).

Attendance: 18,397.