Headers from Michael Mison, Mike Conroy and Lea Barkus helped Fulham heap more pressure on Liam Brady as the Third Division side battered Brighton and Hove Albion 3-0 at Craven Cottage in the Coca Cola Cup this evening.
It took Ian Branfoot’s side only three minutes to establish their aerial superiority. Marauding midfielder Mison followed up his weekend brace against Mansfield Town with a powerful header from Micky Adams’ left-wing cross to give the home side a dream start. Mison, lauded by Brighton as one of the club’s brightest youth products in decades, completely dominated a lacklustre Albion midfield, winning a flick on to fashion a chance for Martin Thomas, who shot wide. He almost scored a second right on the stroke of half-time with a venomous volley from a half-cleared corner that was well stopped by Brighton keeper Nicky Rust.
The home side looked just as comfortable after the interval with Rust saving well from Simon Morgan and Mark Blake. It took until the last twenty minutes for the Cottagers to construct a comfortable advantage ahead of the second leg. Mike Conroy headed in his first goal for the club, when he got on the end of a curling cross from Duncan Jupp with fifteen minutes to go and former Reading winger Lea Barkus also opened his Fulham account in the closing stages.
A terrific tackle from Terry Angus ended a rare Brighton raid forward and a swift Fulham counter-attack culminated in Adams crossing to the far post, where Barkus looped a lovely header over the stranded Rust. Tony Lange made a pair of late saves to crucially keep a clean sheet, leaving Albion manager Liam Brady to try and placate angry away fans after the final whistle. That was the Irish legend’s final ill-advised decision of the evening – with Brady eventually needing a police escort to leave the Cottage safely.
FULHAM: Lange; Jupp, Herrera, Mison, Angus, Blake, Thomas (Barkus 80), Morgan, Conroy, Brazil (Cusack 77), Adams. Subs (not used): Harrison.
GOALS: Mison (3), Conroy (75), Barkus (84).
ATTENDANCE: 4,380.
