Udo Onwere headed the only goal of the game as Fulham hung on to earn a narrow win over Torquay United at Plainmoor this afternoon.
The home side will look back on three good chances that they spurned in the space of six second-half minutes as the period when this tight contest turned against them. Mark Dobie missed his kick with just Jim Stannard to beat following a dreadful mistake by Glen Thomas, Andy Rowland sent a tame header straight at the Fulham goalkeeper after being left unmarked from Mark Loram’s long throw and Rowland then volleyed into Stannard’s chest from twelve yards having been picked out by a precise Loram cross.
But Fulham could point to missed opportunities of their own that would have frustrated Alan Dicks had nineteen year-old Onwere not kept his scoring streak with a firm header after Torquay’s failure to take those chances. Graham Baker oozed class in the middle of the park, with Onwere and Corey Browne never fully shackled by the home midfield either. Stannard made saved from Chris Myers’ curler from distance and a close-range effort by winger Paul Hall, but both George Georgiou and Gary Brazil went close for the Whites in an opening twenty minutes where the hosts hardly touched the ball.
Thomas saw a header cleared off the line by John Uzzell before Gareth Howells made a magnificent save to keep out Mark Newson’s headed effort with the goal gaping. John Impey instructed left-back Loram to roam further forward in the second half but that left gaps at the back for the visitors to exploit, with Paul Holmes bravely sliding in to prevent Onwere from racing through on the Torquay goal.
The Whites’ attack was disjointed after Browne suffered a knee ligament problem and had to be taken off ten minutes into the second half. They were less dynamic as a result but still grabbed a winner twenty minutes from time. Martin Pike found the space and time to whip in a dangerous ball from the left, which Onwere flung himself forward to guide into the net. Howells had no chance – and Fulham were a goal to the good.
The hosts threw numbers forward in search of a late equaliser and they would have found one too, were it not from two superb stops from Stannard, who fabulously foiled low shots from Micky Holmes and the luckless Loram as Fulham hung on to claim all three points.
TORQUAY UNITED: Howells; Dobbins, Elliott, Uzzell, Holmes, Myles, Loram, Holmes, Hall, Rowland, Dobie (Hodges 72). Subs (not used): Joyce.
FULHAM: Stannard; Eckhardt, G. Thomas, Pike, Marshall, Newson, Onwere, Baker, Brazil, Browne (Scott 55), Georgiou (Cobb 75).
BOOKED: Baker, Marshall.
REFEREE: Keith Cooper (Pontypridd).
GOAL: Onwere (69).
ATTENDANCE: 3,299.
