Gary Barnett’s late leveller handed Fulham a share of the spoils against play-off chasing Wigan Athletic on an action-packed afternoon at Craven Cottage.
The Cottagers failed to take advantage as a weary Latics’ side tired in the final quarter and Wigan can probably count themselves fortunate that their promotion hopes didn’t take a more damaging dent on the banks of the River Thames. The frustrating thing for the visitors was that they looked utterly in control when David Lowe clinically converted a cross from Paul Jewell on eight minutes and when Jewell lashed home a lovely 25-yarder with nineteen minutes left they seemed certain to take all three points.
But Fulham, who have survived any number of off-field dramas this season, don’t know when they are beaten under the stewardship of Ray Lewington. They came from behind twice and fully merited a point, with talented winger Rod Braithwaite scoring a special equaliser of his own on the half hour mark.
Wigan took a battering either side of Braithwaite’s brilliant leveller, with a defence that has looked miserly for much of this season, looking a little jittery and the midfield suddenly second to almost every fifty fifty. The Latics improved when David Hamilton replaced the anonymous Paul Cook and their best player, Jewell, delivered a moment of magic when he darted away from the attentions of Jim Hicks and Jeff Hopkins, to score a splendid goal from 25 yards.
The travelling Wigan fans roared their approval but their joy lasted less than three minutes. Barnett was allowed to saunter 30 yards along the right flank and when his low shot flashed through a forest of legs in the penalty and past the unsighted goalkeeper Roy Tunks you could figure visiting manager Ray Mathias for burying his head in his hands.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Vaughan; Oakes, Hicks, Hopkins, Carr, Scott, Donnellan, Lewington, Barnett, Brathwaite (Davies 75), Coney.
GOALS: Brathwaite (30), Barnett (74).
WIGAN ATHLETIC: Tunks; Butler, Knowles, Hilditch, Cribley, Beesley, Lowe, Thompson, Campbell, Jewell, Cook (Hamilton 60).
GOALS: Lowe (8), Jewell (71).
REFEREE: Paul Vanes.
ATTENDANCE: 3,609.
