Fulham crashed out of the League Cup at the hands of Championship outfit Preston North End after losing the longest penalty shoot-out in English domestic Cup history at Deepdale this evening. The Whites dominated the first half but fell behind to a fine strike from Ryan Ledson ten minutes before the break and, although Marco Silva’s side equalised through Reiss Nelson’s first goal since his loan move from Arsenal last month, the home side triumphed after an epic shootout 16-15 when Ledson kept his nerve after Timothy Castagne fired over the bar.
Paul Heckingbottom’s side have taken to cup football far more adeptly than the league campaign since the former Sheffield United boss replaced Ryan Lowe following their defeat by the Blades on the opening weekend of the season. Both sides made changes making this a gritty and uneven contest that was characterised by disjointed football. The hosts fashioned the first chance when Stefan Thordarson threatened the Fulham goal from long range before Steven Benda made a superb stretching save to push away a header from Kaine Kesler-Hayden at the far post.
Fulham gradually found more fluency with Ryan Sessegnon sauntering down the left flank in tandem with Nelson. The full back delivered the perfect low cross for Harrison Reed who looked certain to open the scoring, but the midfielder delayed pulling the trigger and saw his shot blocked by Liam Lindsay. Kesler-Hayden then threw himself in front of a Sessegnon effort to preserve parity before crosses from Castagne and Harry Wilson flashed across the face of goal.
The Premier League side were making the running, but ended up going behind after Issa Diop gave away possession in his own half and a poor clearance from Sander Berge landed at the feet of Ledson, who guided a low drive into the bottom corner from 20 yards. Silva gave his starting eleven the chance to make amends in the second half and gradually upped the ante. Muniz spurned a glorious chance from Castagne’s whipped cross before Reed rifled an effort against the crossbar from 20 yards before Freddie Woodman did superbly to claw away Rodrigo Muniz’s follow-up.
Three minutes later, the visitors were level. Sessegnon surged onto a clever pass from Tom Cairney and cut the ball back to the near post where the accelerating Nelson arrived to steer a shot past Woodman and into the net. The Preston goalkeeper then spread himself brilliantly to deny Wilson at his near post and, despite the introduction of Emile Smith Rowe, Alex Iwobi and Raul Jimenez, Heckingbottom’s side held firm to take the tie to penalties.
The shoot-out was full of quality as both sides scored their first sixteen penalties before Jorge Cuenca and Kesler-Hayden had consecutive spot-kicks saved. Castagne drilled over the bar and skipper Ledson sent Benda the wrong way to send North End into the fourth round.
PRESTON NORTH END (4-4-2): Woodman; Storey, Kesler-Hayden, Bauer (Hughes 61), Lindsay; Ledson, Thordarson (McCann 68), Bowler (Okkels 83), Holmes (Whiteman 82); Frokjaer-Jensen (Greenwood 68), Osmajic. Subs (not used): Cornell, Whatmough, Stewart, Riis.
GOAL: Ledson (35).
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Benda; Castagne, R. Sessegnon, Diop, Cuenca; Reed (Smith Rowe 77), Berge; Wilson (Iwobi 77), Nelson (Jimenez 85), Cairney (Godo 85); Muniz (Lukic 90). Subs (not used): Leno, Tete, Bassey, King.
BOOKED: Diop.
GOAL: Nelson (61).
REFEREE: Bobby Madley (West Yorkshire).
ATTENDANCE: 5,530.
Dear oh dear!
On paper, the eleven that Silva put out looked good enough to see us through to the next round but, unfortunately, it only highlighted the paucity of quality within our ranks.
It also confirmed the striking issue that will continue to plague us as the season progresses.
Muniz looked a shadow of the player that had such a golden patch, last season. He is a player that thrives on confidence and I was really hoping that he would
grab one tonight-but not to be.
Harry Wilson was next to useless until he was withdrawn.
Ryan Sessegnon -suspect in the first half -grew into the game and some of his work in the second half should have reaped a benefit.
Struggling for positives but we were much improved in the second half though lacking in a cutting edge. Sander Berge looked more than useful and Nelson showed flashes that are promising, at least.
But Silva needs to sort out the captaincy, once and for all. Tonight, we had the pathetic sight of Cairney going off and handing the armband to Jiminez??? WTF? It’s almost as if they don’t really care who is the nominal skipper but, boy, do we need one.
60 quid in petrol and 8 hours driving to watch Fulham Reserves. Think I need my sanity tested.
Rant over. We played some decent stuff especially in the 2nd half but everything fizzles out in front of goal. Muniz is just a passenger, Raul slightly better.
European football is a pipe dream unless we find a replacement for Mitro. Not had a proper captain since Danny Murphy.
“Rifled a shot against the crossbar” really. the only shot Reed rifled was straight at a defender who was on laying the ground from 6/7 yards out. Our finishing was abysmal all night . The passing was awful and players positioning it the box was crap. The penalty shoot out took as long as extra time had it been played.