Simon Morgan’s late winner at Reading this afternoon inched Fulham closer towards promotion and the Second Division title that Kevin Keegan craves.
The Craven Cottage cult hero is revelling in the Cottagers’ most successful season in decades having spent most of his nine years at the club engaged in battling to keep the capital’s oldest professional outfit afloat. Morgan, who famously opened the scoring in the Whites’ FA Cup giantkilling at Aston Villa in January, popped up with his fifth goal of an injury-hit campaign thirteen minutes from time after perfectly reading Barry Hayles’ clever header.
Keegan has set his side a new target – breaking Lincoln City’s Football League points record – with the Whites miles ahead of the division’s other promotion chasers. He praised his team for winning a battle with Reading’s playing surface, which cut up atrociously after being ruined by Richmond’s rugby Cup tie 48 hours earlier.
“I was watching the scrum in that corner two days ago, and I can still see the hole. But these boys are fantastic professionals and I’ve lost count of the times we’ve managed to dig out a result like this away from home. We were never at our best, but our biggest problem today was undoubtedly the pitch.
“At least we’ve got a chance of breaking the points record, which I believe is held by Lincoln with 104. We’re 14 points clear but the champagne’s only on ice. I’m not going to jump the gun.”
READING (4-4-2): Howie; Maybury, Gray, Casper, Primus; Parkinson, Brebner, Caskey, McClaren (McKeever 70); Scott, Sarr. Subs (not used): Hunter.
BOOKED: Maybury, Casper.
FULHAM (5-3-2): Taylor; J. Smith, Trollope (Peschisolido 82), Symons, Albert, Coleman; Morgan, Smith, Hayward; Horsfield, Hayles. Subs (not used): W. Collins.
BOOKED: Morgan, Horsfield.
GOAL: Morgan (77).
REFEREE: John Brandwood (Essex).
ATTENDANCE: 18,741
