Another AFC Bournemouth late show denied Fulham all three points in an end-to-end encounter at Craven Cottage this afternoon. Dango Outtarra punished a mistake by Issa Diop and his deft chip other Bernd Leno was the Cherries’ eleventh goal in the final fifteen of matches to cancel out excellent headers from Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson.
The hosts might feel unfortunate that Wilson’s header after a well-worked move wasn’t enough to claim all three points but Andoni Iriola’s men were dogged, diligent in possession and never gave up. It was Bournemouth who had the first chance of the afternoon as centre back Dean Huijsen directed Lewis Cook’s corner on goal but saw his header grasped by Bernd Leno. David Brooks pulled the strings in the Bournemouth midfield and went close with two efforts in quick succession.
The returning Wilson, rewarded for scoring on Thursday at Stamford Bridge, looked the most likely source of a Fulham goal. He roamed threateningly along the right flank, although his speculative strike after cutting in onto his left foot was claimed by Kepa Arrizabalaga. The former Chelsea custodian did well to keep out Wilson again shortly afterwards – and Bournemouth finished the first period on the front foot.
Brooks sent Evanislation scampering clear of a square Fulham rearguard, but Leno burst off his line and blocked impressively. Antoine Semenyo, who starred for Bristol City here before earning his big-money move to Bournemouth, was next to test Leno’s reflexes with the German goalkeeper adroitly turned Semenyo’s strike behind for a corner. James Hill did find the net from the ensuing corner, but referee Robert Jones waved play on.
Instead, it was Fulham who hit the front with a rare goal from a set play. Andreas Pereira used Silva’s three centre backs as a decoy as he found Jimenez with an inch-perfect corner. The Mexican glanced an unstoppable header beyond the Cheries’ defence. It might have been worse for the visitors, but Ryan Christie escaped a red card for a late lunge at Antonee Robinson. Silva and his coaching staff seethed with anger on the sidelines, but they failed to prepare Fulham for waves of pressure after the interval.
Both Semenyo and Brooks saw shots saved by Leno, but Bournemouth were not to be denied an excellent equaliser – even if Joachim Andersen won’t be queuing up to watch the replay. The Danish defender let Evanilson get both goal side and then failed to recover his ground – allowing the Brazilian forward to lift a lovely finish over Leno.
Fulham looked for an immediate riposte with Wilson, whose shot struck Huijensen, and Timothy Castagne, who caught the follow-up impressively but Kepa was well positioned to palm away the shot. The Cottagers came even closer when Jimenez had a header parried out by Kepa and Huijsen scampered back under his crossbar to head away the Mexican’s follow-up effort.
But Fulham kept pushing forward and took the lead again when Wilson timed his run into the box to perfection. The Welsh winger nodded him his fifth league goal of the campaign – as he hung in the air impressively -to nod home another excellent cross by Robinson. But the Whites couldn’t hold on for an excellent victory as Diop was stripped of possession twenty yards from goal. Enes Unal played in Semenyo, who couldn’t find an angle for the shot, and the ball brokely nicely for Outtara to impudently chip Leno and rescue a point for the visitors.
FULHAM (3-4-3): Leno; Andersen, Diop, Bassey; Castagne, A. Robinson, Lukic (King 90+2), Pereira (Cairney 68); Iwobi (Smith Rowe 90+2), Wilson (Traore 78), Jimenez (Muniz 68). Subs (not used): Benda, Cuenca, R. Sessegnon, Godo, Vinicius.
BOOKED: Andersen.
GOALS: Jimenez (40), Wilson (72).
AFC BOURNEMOUTH (4-2-3-1): Kepa; Hill (Aarons 82), Kerkez, Zarbanyi, Huijsen; Cook, Christie; Semenyo, Brooks (Ouattara 73), Billing (Unal 73); Evanilson (Winterburn 82). Subs (not used): Dennis, Travis, A. Harris, Kinsey, Rees-Dottin.
BOOKED: Christie, Billing, Unal.
GOALS: Evanilson (61), Ouattara (89).
REFEREE: Rob Jones (Merseyside).
ATTENDANCE: 27,301.
Our home performances have left a lot to be desired recently and today was no exception.
First half was truly dire as we struggled to gain any fluidity and allowed Bournemouth to dominate.
Apart from Lukic, our midfield was non-existent and ceded control to the opposition.
In many ways it was the Southampton game all over again.
Then Jiminez did one of the few things he got right and scored a fine header from a decent corner by Pereira ( definitely the only contribution he made all game). But we were very fortunate to go in at half time a goal up.
Lo and behold, we started the second half just as badly with Silva making none of the changes that were so badly needed to take control.
A mistake by Andersen gave the visitors an equaliser and, finally, Tom Cairney was introduced for the wraith that is Pereira and, immediately, we took control of the midfield and began to play better.
If only Tom was a few years younger and able to play entire games consistently.
Pereira now has the dubious distinction of being yanked in every game he has started this season and, apart from injuries, players don’t get substituted if they are playing well.
Ultimately, another mistake cost us dearly. This time the villain was Issa Diop who, unfortunately, is apt to have this type of lapse occasionally but who has performed brilliantly in recent weeks.
Bottom line, we didn’t lose but draws only equal mid-table obscurity- not the 3 points needed to push us to the heights we aspire to.
What is this madness of having the hulk of Bassey trying to do overlaps? It is one thing playing with 5 at the back away at Chelsea and all another matter playing home against a team not exactly full of stars. Bassey is too big to be doing the run on the flank, istead of a cross most of the time, the ball has to go back to the midfielder making this sorry show all the more useless. Also, i agree that Cairney had a good 20minutes but we must keep in mind that we were not chasing the result and although Diop is the obvious culprit, on the leveller his options for a pass were very limited, also because the playmaker was still too far off from collecting the pass. Points to ponder.
Agreed Diop committed the ultimate sin of a weak pass which started the move for their equaliser, at that stage of the game, row Z would have been a good option. However, where was the cover at left back? There was no one.
Also Leno committed himself very early in attempting to save both goals and made the goal scorer’s decision making easier than it should have been. Mind you had Traore been given the same chance, he would hit straight at the keeper.