Martin Jol was left lamenting defensive mistakes after a late show from former Fulham striker Louis Saha settled an even game at Craven Cottage in Everton’s favour.
The French forward put the Toffees’ ahead minutes after Bobby Zamora had missed a glorious chance for Fulham – and Jack Rodwell rounded off the scoring deep into stoppage time. Everton had led since the third minute through Royston Drenthe’s brilliant long-range strike but a lovely chip from substitute Bryan Ruiz three minutes after the Costa Rican had come off the bench brought the hosts level.
Jol was bitterly disappointed that his side had lost such an even contest. “There was a big contradiction between the first minute and the last,” said the Fulham manager. “We had to change it in the second half after Drenthe, who has probably never played on the right before, scored a goal in the first couple of minutes.”
“We fought ourselves back into it and in the second half the equaliser from Bryan Ruiz should have been enough to win this game. It is not about possession or playing better now, it is about chances. We really thought we could have a result from today but we didn’t.
“Bobby had the winning goal on his foot in the 89th minute and then we conceded a goal in the 90 minute. There’s nothing you can say to Bobby. He’s sick and we’re all sick. They play together and they lost together. We should have won this game and we didn’t. Today should have been different.”
