Plymouth Argyle eased to a comfortable victory over injury-hit Fulham at Home Park this afternoon to make it seven straight wins in a row.
Ara Bedrossian couldn’t come much closer to scoring his first goal for the Cottagers after cracking a rising drive against the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area after Sean Farrell had scrapped to win the ball back from the Plymouth defence. It was the Londoners who took the lead on eighteen minutes when captain Simon Morgan nudged home from three yards out after Lee Nicholls had kept out a far post header from Julian Hails.
Jim Stannard spread himself well to keep out a snapshot from Kevin Nugent but the Fulham goalkeeper was helpless to prevent the predatory striker from equalising with a fierce drive from eleven yards after excellent hold up play from Dwight Marshall. Marshall was then denied after spinning away from Morgan to shoot towards goal early in the second half, with Stannard pushing his strike over the bar.
The hosts were then fortunate not to concede a penalty when Mark Patterson brought down Hails in the box – with referee Martin Bodenham waving play on once Nicholls had collected the loose ball. Fulham came even closer when Gary Brazil broke clear down the left flank and played a perfect pass for Bedrossian only for the Cypriot international to shoot over the bar with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Argyle made the most of their luck in the last ten minutes. A brilliant burst from Dwight Marshall took him away from Terry Angus and drew red and black shirts towards him. The forward fed Paul Dalton, who buried a low right-footed shot past the grounded Stannard from just inside the area. Four minutes from time, Udo Onwere turned the ball into his own net as he tried to clear a cross from the dangerous Marshall to ruin Fulham’s chances of taking any points back to the capital.
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE: Nicholls; Burrows, Comyn, Naylor, Patterson; Burnett, McCall, Castle, Nugent, Dalton, Marshall. Subs (not used): Newland, Edworthy, Evans.
GOALS: Nugent (34), Dalton (79), Onwere (o.g. 86).
FULHAM: Stannard; Jupp, Herrera, Angus, Morgan; Bedrossian (Haworth 84), Onwere, Hails, Baah (Tierling 64), Brazil, Farrell. Subs (not used): Harrison.
GOAL: Morgan (18).
REFEREE: Martin Bodenham (Looe).
ATTENDANCE: 15,609.
