Fulham’s under 21s produced an outstanding performance to beat Woking in a five-goal thriller in their final National League Cup group fixture at the Laithwaite Community Stadium this evening.
Hayden Mullins’ side began brightly in their purple change strip with Aaron Loupalo-Bi having an early effort deflected into the grasp of Woking goalkeeper Will Jaaskelainen and Terrell Works embarking a solo run into the area. But the Whites gifted the home side an opportunity to take the lead when Eddy Nsasi brought down Matt Ward inside the box. Fulham goalkeeper Alex Borto came to the rescue with a terrific save, diving to his right to keep out Jack Stretton’s spot kick.
The Cards were punished almost immediately at the other end as the lively Loupalo-Bi received a forward ball from Chris Donnell, darted inside and fired a fine left-footed effort into the bottom corner beautifully from just inside the penalty area. Woking replied with a prolonged period of pressure that saw Borto first push away a powerful strike from Stretton and then gratefully grab a tame attempt from Dion Kelly-Evans.
Fulham wasted a great chance to double their lead after Donnell had been tripped in the box by Cian Harries at the other end – as Jaaskelainen easily saved a poor penalty from Callum Osmand. Woking roused themselves again with former Brentford midfielder Alan Judge coming very close with a terrific strike and got themselves level through a superb strike by Ward, who found the top corner with a brilliant effort from 25 yards out.
The hosts were now well on top. They carved out good chances to take the lead, with Stretton shooting narrowly off target from a promising position and Dennon Lewis firing wastefully over after being picked out by a good cross from the right flank. The pattern of the contest continued after the interval when Borto made a smart low save to thwart Lewis as the winger looked set to sidefoot home. Woking went ahead for the first time just before the hour mark when Kelly-Lewis buried an excellent header to the delight of the home fans.
Fulham were stung into action and levelled within five minutes through a flowing passing move. Lemar Gordon produced a peach of a pass to play Donnell into a shooting position, but the midfielder unselfishly squared the ball for Osmand to roll a simple finish into the empty net. The visitors then looked particularly dangerous on the break with Osmand breaking into the penalty area – only for Loupalo-Bi to miscue his effort from the edge of the box as the Woking defence failed to clear.
Just as the contest looked set to finish level, Osmand produced a moment of magic to win the game for the Whites. The Welsh youth international collected another clever ball from the dangerous Donnell but did the rest himself, finding space between a number of home defenders to beat Jaaskelainen with a lovely shot into the bottom corner.
WOKING (4-2-3-1): Jaaskelainen; Chicksen; Kelly-Evans, Harries, Dyche; Akinola, Judge (Andrews 55); Ward (Conte 61), Lewis, Anderson (Gorman 70); Stretton (Walker 70). Subs (not used): Leahy, Webber, Kendall.
BOOKED: Harries.
GOALS: Ward (34), Kelly-Evans (59).
FULHAM UNDER 21s (4-2-3-1): Borto; Gofford, Slade (Quashie 70), Park, Nsasi; Nwoko, Donnell; Loupalo-Bi (Olyott 90+1), Works, Gordon, Osmand. Subs (not used): Underwood, White, Zepa, Ali Wahid, Wingate.
GOALS: Loupalo-Bi (9), Osmand (65, 88).
REFEREE: Ross Martin.
