Luke Harris headed home a late winner as Fulham’s under 21s edged past Wolverhampton Wanderers to move into fourth place in the Premier League 2 at Motspur Park last night.
The Welsh number ten nodded in a superb Sonny Hilton corner completely unmarked at the back post to clinch a hard fought victory for Steve Wigley’s side, who had to show plenty of character to claim all three points on a night when they were far from their fluent best. Wolves, who cancelled out Terry Ablade’s opener with lovely strike from the eye-catching James Hesketh, posed plenty of problems for the home defence and James Collins’ charges can justifiably consider themselves unfortunate not to be heading back to the Black Country with at least a share of the spoils.
Fulham’s fluent passing and speed of play into their formidable forward line was lacking for a lot of what looked like being another frustrating evening for the hosts – after the young Whites had been been eliminated from the Premier League International Cup last Thursday by an excellent PSV Eindhoven outfit. Wigley had made only two changes from that evening, with Alex Borto replacing George Wickens in goal and Jamaican international Delano McCoy-Splatt handed a full under-21 league debut in central midfield in place of George Okkas.
The visitors made the faster start with Hesketh failing to test Borto when released following a flowing passing move, but chances were at a premium until Hilton hammered wide with the angle against him after a brilliant bit of vision from Devan Tanton. Borto then kept hold of Joe Hodge’s low drive after the midfielder had raced clear down the right and the old gold, who had played the more promising football for much of the first half, paid for that when Terry Ablade opened the scoring three minutes before the break.
The goal owed much to the determination and artistry of Harris, who left a couple of Wolves tacklers trailing in his wake as he powered through central midfield, before threading a terrific ball through for the Finnish under-21 international, who lashed his tenth goal of the campaign between Louie Moulden and his near post. The visitors could have been level before half time with Josh Esen drilling a drive straight at Borto before Nathan Fraser ruffled the side netting from an acute angle.
James Collins’ side went even closer just after the interval. Harvey Griffiths had all the time in the world to pick out Fraser’s fine near post run but the forward’s shot cannoned off the crossbar with Borto beaten. Wolves were now on the front foot and they did equalise ten minutes into the second half with a well-worked goal. A crisp passing move that began with centre half Alfie Pond saw Hodge find Owen Farmer on the left flank. The winger waltzed past Tanton and his cross was hit home on the half-volley by Hesketh.
The Whites had shown plenty of resilience in making a game of their PL International Cup tie against PSV last week, with Ablade almost sparking a sensational come back from 2-0 down in the closing stages. Here, Fulham responded positively to the shock of being pegged back. Harris looked their likeliest scorer and had a diving header bravely blocked by Pond, but the Wolves defence failed to heed their warning. A minute later the talented teenager pounced at the far post having been left completely free at a corner.
Wolves still should have got something from the game. Substitute Kam Kondola made a 50-50 his in central midfield and fed Farmer, who put Fraser in behind a square Fulham defence. He only had Borto to beat but shot wastefully wide of the far post. The Whites are back in action on Friday night at Meadow Park in a London derby against Arsenal.
FULHAM UNDER 21s (4-2-3-1): Borto; Tanton, Araujo (de Fougerolles 28), C. Robinson, Williams; McCoy-Splatt (Okkas 77), Dibley-Dias; Hilton, Godo, Harris; Ablade. Subs (not used): Allen, McFarlane, Sanderson.
GOALS: Ablade (42), Harris (77).
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS UNDER 21s (4-2-3-1): Moulden; Lembikisa, Hubner, Marques, Pond; Hodge (Roberts 65), Griffiths (Kandola 82); Esen, Farmer, Hesketh; Fraser. Subs (not used): Arinbjornsson, Keto-Diyawa, Mabete.
BOOKED: Pond, Hubner.
GOAL: Hesketh (56).
REFEREE: Jacob Miles.
