The returning Louis Saha took Fulham out of a big hole as the Whites had to come from behind to beat promotion rivals Blackburn Rovers to preserve their 100 per cent to the Division One campaign.
The French forward, only fit enough to feature from substitutes bench, fired home the winner from the penalty spot after he had been upended by Henning Berg to clinch a tense victory at Craven Cottage and return Jean Tigana’s side to the top of the table. Fulham’s tenth straight league win inched them closer to Reading’s Football League record – which stands at thirteen – but the sense of relief at the final whistle told you that pacesetters felt they had got away with one here.
The home side had only conceded three goals at Craven Cottage all season but Blackburn just took four minutes to breach their defence. Fulham had enjoyed almost all the ball up until Matt Jansen stole possession from John Collins, accelerated away from Andy Melville and shot past Maik Taylor to send the Rovers fans into ecstasy. Graeme Souness’ side should have been two up five minutes later after Nathan Blake rounded the Fulham goalkeeper but instead of finding the empty net he took the ball out of play.
Fabrice Fernandes quickly punished the Welshman for that terrible miss by darting inside Jeff Kenna and firing an unstoppable shot past a surprised John Filan from what looked like an impossible shooting angle. That only ramped up the pressure on the Rovers’ rearguard as Fulham peppered their goal with shots for the remainder of the first half. Hayles headed over from a brilliant Bjarne Goldbaek cross before Luis Boa Morte was left furious when Uriah Rennie waved his penalty appeals after the forward had been tripped by Gary Flitcroft.
The second half saw Blackburn operating much more assertively, although Blake spurned another great chance by heading a David Dunn’s cross wide with the goal gaping. Fulham went up the other end and took the lead when Rennie did point to the spot and Saha kept his composure from twelve yards. They might have wrapped up the victory but Filan fabulously repelled a header from Hayles, which might things interesting until the very end.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Maik Taylor; Finnan, Trollope, Melville, Coleman; J. Collins (Lewis 90), Clark, Goldbaek, Fernandes; Hayles, Boa Morte (Saha 54). Subs (not used): Hahnemann, Symons, W. Collins.
BOOKED: Melville.
GOALS: Fernandes (16), Saha (pen 68).
BLACKBURN ROVERS (5-3-2): Filan; Kenna, Curtis, Short (Matt Taylor 40), Berg, Bjornebye; Carlsey (Hignett 45), Flitcroft, Dunn; Blake, Jansen (Duff 53). Subs (not used): Kelly, Johnson.
BOOKED: Short, Hignett, Berg.
GOAL: Jansen (4).
REFEREE: Uriah Rennie (South Yorkshire).
ATTENDANCE: 15,247
