Sunderland have it all to do in the second leg at Craven Cottage next week having been held to a 1-1 draw by Third Division Fulham in the first leg of this League Cup tie on a dramatic night at Roker Park.
The home side badly missed Paul Bracewell in midfield and Marco Gabbiadini in attack before losing Reuben Agboola and John Conforth to injury and having Thomas Hauser sent off. Fulham also were reduced to ten men with 35 minutes to play after referee Michael Peck showed Gavin Nebbeling a second yellow card having been struck by Hauser and received treatment off the field of play.
Fulham manager Ray Lewington fumed afterwards: “I asked the referee what Gavin Nebbeling got sent off for. He said it was for ‘adopting an aggressive attitude after being struck’. Gavin is nearly in tears. The lad can’t believe it. Sunderland are not a physical side but I find it amazing how you can have a player sent off after being struck. It ruined the game as a spectacle and it is very disappointing. The lad missed pre-season through injury and now he’s going to miss game through something that was not of his own doing”.
The ridiculous red card apart this was a dire game of football, although Fulham can take great heart from the way they almost immediately managed to silence the home crowd. Jim Stannard denied Eric Gates a goal from Sunderland’s first attack and then Clive Walker, back on his old stomping ground, seized on a defensive mistake to find Andy Sayer at the near post and the striker unselfishly set up John Watson for the simplest of close-range finishes past stand-in goalkeeper Tim Carter in the second minute.
But Sunderland were soon level after Peck pointed to the spot when Gary Owers tumbled over a tackle from Glen Thomas. Paul Hardyman scored his first goal since his summer £130,000 move from Portsmouth by clinically converted the ensuing penalty. The visitors were far from cowed by that setback with Carter producing a superb save to claw away a header by Saywer from Walker’s searching cross.
The hosts never looked as assured at the back after the loss of Agboola meant the versatile Owers was switched to right back with substitute Tony Cullen more suited to posing problems for Fulham’s full backs with his pace and penchant for taking players on. The home side could have been awarded two penalties in the closing stages with Gates wrestled to the ground by Ronnie Mauge and Jeff Eckhardt surviving loud shouts for handball. But the visiting ten men defended diligently and this tie is still very much alive – contrary to the pre-match predictions.
SUNDERLAND: Carter; Agboola (Cullen 14), MacPhail, Bennett, Hardyman, Owers, Armstrong, Cornforth (Rush 70), Pascoe, Gates, Hauser.
BOOKED: Pascoe.
SENT OFF: Hauser.
GOAL: Hardyman (pen 11).
FULHAM: Stannard; Marshall, Nebbeling, Eckhardt, Thomas (Bremner 45), Skinner, Scott, Mauge, Walker, Watson, Sayer. Subs (not used): Barnett.
BOOKED: Scott, Nebbeling.
SENT OFF: Nebbeling.
GOAL: Watson (2).
REFEREE: Michael Peck (Kendal).
ATTENDANCE: 11,416.
