Stockport County consigned Fulham’s flawless away record to the rubbish bin after beating the First Division leaders at Edgeley Park this afternoon.
Goals from Jarkko Wiss and Peter Clark might have come against the run of play either side of the break but County’s combative football and spirit bridged a gap that spanned some 37 points at the kick off. The Cottagers began brightly with a brilliant double save from Carlos Nash denying two efforts from Louis Saha in quick succession. The promptings of Lee Clark and Sean Davis in central midfield secured the lion’s share of possession for the visitors but they were stunned when the Hatters hit the front five minutes before half time.
Andy Melville was penalised for a foul twenty five yards from goal and Fulham went to sleep from the ensuing free kick. Mike Flynn’s cross found Wiss in far too much space and the Finnish international cracked a fine finish past Maik Taylor into the bottom corner. Stockport emerged after the interval full of confidence and increased their lead two minutes into the second half. Clark scored a superb solo goal, sauntering through a shaken Fulham defence, beating three opponents on his way before slipping a finish past Taylor as the Northern Ireland international dashed from his line in desperation.
Fulham laid siege to the Stockport goal for the remainder of the half with Tigana throwing on Nicolas Sahnoun and Andrejs Stolcers. The Latvian international twice struck the woodwork and knew it wasn’t going to be his day when he looked to have scored straight from a corner in the last minute but the ball was scrambled clear by Clark from beneath his own crossbar. Should Stockport continue to show this sort of fight, perhaps a great escape isn’t beyond them.
STOCKPORT COUNTY (4-4-2): Nash; Flynn, Clark, Gibb, Clare, Woodthorpe, Wiss, Smith, Cooper, Matthews (Fradin 70), Wilbraham. Subs (not used): Dibble, Maxwell, Bryngelsson, Brebner.
BOOKED: Matthews, Gibb.
GOALS: Wiss (40), Clark (47).
FULHAM (4-4-2): Taylor; Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Coleman; Davis (Stolcers 56), Clark, Goldbaek, Fernandes (Sahnoun 55); Hayles (Boa Morte 43), Saha. Subs (not used): Hahnemann, Symons.
BOOKED: Sahnoun, Boa Morte, Brevett.
REFEREE: Alan Butler (Sutton-in-Ashfield).
ATTENDANCE: 6,100
