A header from Zach Abbott clinched victory for Nottingham Forest B over Fulham’s under 21s in the PL2 at Motspur Park this evening.
The young Whites had more of the ball and created the clearer cut chances but paid the penalty for not being clinical in front of goal when centre back Abbott escaped his marker to head a corner past Michael Allen midway through the first half.
The visitors made a bright start with Joel Ndala making early inroads along the left flank and Warren Joyce’s side looked well organised and confident on the ball in the early exchanges. Fulham gradually gained a greater share of the possession and almost took the lead in the seventeenth minute when Josh King was denied by a superb George Murray-Jones save. From a corner shortly afterwards, Samuel Amissah rattled the crossbar with a header but it was the visitors who held a slender advantage at the interval after the Fulham defence switched off.
Matt Dibley-Dias had a shot bravely blocked by Kyle McAdam and the pattern continued after the interval with Murray-Jones doing wonderfully to thwart the in-form Callum Osmand and then field a low finish from Terrell Works. The Reds were a constant threat on the counter attack and Ndala had a goal chalked off for offside.
Fulham threw numbers forward in the closing stages in search of an equaliser but Forest looked the likelier to find the net with substitute Chibby Nwoko keeping his side in the contest by throwing himself in front of a goalbound strike from Jimmy Sinclair. Forest’s impressive win leaves them one point behind Newcastle United, who currently occupy sixteenth place in the table – with sixteen sides set to qualify for the end-of-season play-offs.
FULHAM UNDER 21s:Â Allen; Tanton, Esenga (Gofford 82), Nsasi, Amissah, Dibley-Dias, King (Nwoko 81); Gordon, Works (Lanquedoc 66), Ridgeon (Donnell 66); Osmand. Subs (not used): Underwood.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST B: Murray-Jones, Sinclair, Thompson, Abbott, Powell, Hammond, Perkins, Nadin, McAdam, Ndala, Fletcher (Norkett 90+5). Subs (not used): Willows, Newton, Collins, Hanks.
GOAL: Abbott (23).
