Fulham held Celtic to a goalless draw in their latest pre-season friendly at Craven Cottage.
The home side survived an early scare after a mix-up between Adam Green and Alain Goma appeared to allow Celtic in, but Mark Crossley was alive to the danger and raced off his line to clear. Green put that poor start behind him with a brilliant sliding challenge on Jeremie Aliadiere as the former Arsenal striker bore down on goal.
Claus Jensen nearly broke the deadlock for Fulham on fifteen minutes but the Danish midfielder was ditched by a last-ditch tackle as he strode onto a pass from Tomasz Radzinski. Mark Pembridge saw a venomous 30-yarder flick off the stanchion with David Marshall beaten as the hosts gradually got more of a foothold in the game. At the other end, Crossley was quick off line again to prevent Chris Sutton from latching on to a pass from Stiliyan Petrov.
Fulham began the second half brightly when Steed Malbranque chased a lost cause, won back possession and squared for Andy Cole, who drove disappointing over the bar from the edge of the area. But the home side struggled to find a telling final ball as they dominated possession. Petrov blasted an effort into covering Fulham defenders after a corner was half cleared and the creative midfielder narrowly failed to find a team-mate with his low cross after a quick Celtic break.
The counter-attack looked like Celtic’s most likely route to a winner and so it proved. Shaun Maloney intercepted a dreadful pass from Ahmad Elrich and raced in on goal, only to be brought down by Crossley. But the Welsh goalkeeper redeemed himself by diving to his right to keep out debutant Maciej Zurawksi’s spot-kick.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Crossley; Volz (Leacock 82), Green, Rehman, Goma; Pembridge (Legwinski 82), C. Jensen (Pratley 82), Elrich, Malbranque; Radzinski, Cole (Timlin 82). Subs (not used): Drobny, Fontaine, McDermott.
GLASGOW CELTIC (4-4-2): Marshall; Irvine, Balde, Varga, Camara; Petrov (Zurawski), Lennon (Gardyne 89), Sutton, McGeady (Wallace 83); Aliadiere (Beattie 66), Hartson (Maloney 66). Subs (not used): Boruc, McManus, Fernandez.
REFEREE: Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire).
ATTENDANCE: 16,873.
