Fulham’s wretched away record continued as they lost a relegation six-pointer to fellow strugglers Rotherham United at Millmoor this afternoon.
Beleaguered Cottagers boss Alan Dicks had targeted this fixture as a chance to turn their season around by recording their first win on their travels all season. But a disastrous first half saw the Whites’ hopes of claiming any kind of result at all evaporate as they were swept away by a clinical home side.
Phil Henson’s decision to play three strikers in a game the Millers had to win was fully vindicated as his side blew the frail Fulham defence away. Shaun Goodwin powered Rotherham in front in the fourteenth minute after being set up by the irrepressible Shaun Goater. Goater set up the second goal six minutes before the break for Phil Duffield, who drove a right-footed shot past Jim Stannard.
Goater, who joined United after failing to earn a professional contract at Manchester United, grabbed a deserved goal of his own right at the end of the first half when he tapped home from close range after a flowing move involving Desmond Hazel and Ian Hathaway. Fulham did get a goal back eighteen minutes from time when midfielder Peter Scott rifled home after Glen Thomas’s flick on, but it was scant consolation for the Londoners who are now staring relegation in the face.
ROTHERHAM UNITED: Mercer; Johnson, Law, Barnsley, R. Robinson, Barrick, Goodwin, Hathaway (Thompson 45), Hazel, Duffield, Goater.
BOOKED: Law.
GOALS: Goodwin (14), Duffield (39), Goater (45).
FULHAM: Stannard; Eckhardt, North, G. Thomas, Pike, Morgan, Scott, Talbot (Haag 80), Brazil, Davies, Milton (Marshall 45).
GOAL: Scott (72).
ATTENDANCE: 3,188.
