Rufus Brevett’s first goal for Fulham got the Whites back to winning ways against Stoke City at Craven Cottage – but the hosts gritty win was overshadowed by a medical scare for Chris Short.
The Potters full back collapsed right next to the visiting dug out just moments after being substituted with seven minutes to play having been taken off because he felt unwell. Short received medical attention and was given an oxygen mask as he was stretchered away by paramedics, but a relieved Stoke boss Graham Laws confirmed the defender had recovered after the final whistle.
Stoke pushed their promotion rivals all the way and might easily have taken the lead during a concerted spell of second half pressure. Peter Thorne wasted their best chance when he drove disappointingly over having been played in by Jason Kavanagh and they were to pay the penalty for that missed opportunity. The home side raised their game and took the lead through a fine move on the hour mark.
After John Salako had probed along the left back, the advancing Brevett joined the attack, playing a one-two with Paul Bracewell and bursting into the box before beating two men and squeezing a shot past between goalkeeper Carl Muggleton and his near post to find the net for the first time since he swapped Loftus Road for Craven Cottage last September.
FULHAM (5-3-2): Taylor; Morgan, Symons, Coleman; W. Collins (Uhlenbeek 76), Brevett, Bracewell, Hayward, Salako (Davis 89); Moody (Lehmann 6), Beardsley.
GOAL: Brevett (60).
STOKE CITY (5-3-2): Muggleton; Kavanagh (Crowe 70), Small, Short (Whittle 83), Woods, Sigurdsson; Keen, Oldfield, Robinson; Lighbourne, Thorne. Subs (not used): Wallace.
REFEREE: Clive Wilkes (Gloucestershire).
ATTENDANCE: 12,055.
