FOOTBALL Live

Saturday May 3, 2008 Finished Craven Cottage

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Fulham

  • McBride 52’
  • Nevland 87’

Birmingham City

  1. Fulham shove Brum towards drop

    Fulham shove Brum towards drop

    Fulham climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 2-0 win at home to Birmingham City. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Fulham
    • Birmingham City
    • 90+4' All over! Fulham move out of the relegation zone, while Birmingham are in deep trouble after an awful performance.
    • 90+2' Now McFadden is booked. Birmingham losing their discipline.
    • 90' Jaidi is booked for a cynical foul and Murphy curls a free-kick goalwards.. tipped over!
    • 87' GOAL!!! GAME OVER!! Erik Nevland races through after Queudrue misses a simple header and slots past Taylor for 2-0!
    • 86' A Birmingham corner comes in and Jaidi meets it with an awkward header that bounces wide.
    • 84' Birmingham are doing nothing. NOTHING. Keller has not had to make a save, and the visitors have done everything but run up the white flag.
    • 80' The Fulham offside trap works to perfection as they race forward and catch Radhi Jaidi beyond the last man, along with about four of his colleagues.
    • 78' Birmingham seem to have nothing in the tank. Kasey Keller has had almost nothing to do this afternoon and the visitors have had nothing from the likes of McFadden, Larsson and Kapo.
    • 74 Final change for Birmingham - Cameron Jerome on for Mikael Forssell.
    • 74' Dempsey!! Meets a fizzing cross from the right but heads well over!
    • 72' Everybody back for Fulham as Birmingham come forward - Brian McBride is the one to clear.
    • 71' Yellow card Simon Davies. Tempers fraying a little as this game enters its final 20 minutes.
    • 68' No, right first time actually. Diomansy Kamara goes off for Erik Nevland.
    • 66' Larsson curls a free-kick into the Fulham box but gets too much on it and Keller catches.
    • 65' No, Kamara has made a miraculous recovery and is back on..
    • 63' Kamara is struggling with a groin problem. Not sure he'll be back.
    • 59' There's the change - Zarate on for Kapo.
    • 58' Mauro Zarate is putting his shirt on in an unnecessarily elaborate fashion. He'll be on in a second.
    • 56' As it stands: Birmingham are 19th on 32 points, Reading 18th on 33 points and Fulham out of the relegation zone on goal difference! Bolton also have 33 points but play later.
    • 54' Kamara.. beats one!.. beats two!!... and another... and another!!... what a run!... and then he blazes his shot miles over the bar! Nice run, zero composure.
    • 52' GOAL!!!! FULHAM IN FRONT!!! Jimmy Bullard curls a free-kick onto the forehead of Brian McBride who finds the bottom corner. The big American doesn't miss those!
    • 51' McFadden is penalised for... well, something. Alex McLeish has a word in the referee's ear. And that word is .
    • 48' McBride turns and cracks a low shot goalwards. Straight at Taylor. Birmingham gave him a lot of time.
    • 46' Second half under way. Still a superb noise inside one of the Premier League's smallest grounds.
    • 46' Liam Ridgewell obviously has an injury - he is replaced by Franck Queudrue.
    • 45+2' That's half-time. Well, both teams are obviously trying but truth be told it's not very good stuff.
    • 45' MASSIVE dive by Paul Stalteri, and he is quite rightly booked. Hilarious.
    • 42' Muamba and McBride get down and dirty on the floor, unleashing some judo moves on each other. All a bit messy.
    • 40' Great long ball by Kapo for McFadden, but he inexplicably declines to shoot, squaring instead for Forssell and Aaron Hughes clears.
    • 37' Cagey, nervy, tight... pick your adjective. They all mean the same - it's not a very good game.
    • 34' As it stands. Well, it's a draw here and Bolton play later. But Reading are losing against Spurs which means they drop into the bottom three
    • 31' Quite an even encounter at the moment. Fulham have a bit more pace, Birmingham maybe slightly more quality. But obviously not that much, or else they wouldn't be in this mess.
    • 29' Excellent counter-attack from Birmingham down the left. Larsson crosses for Forssell, who just can't bring the ball under control. A missed chance, but still a corner.
    • 27' Clint Dempsey is limping. Just so you know. The Texan is not a happy chappy.
    • 25' Birmingham corner on the left, Larsson to take as always. A bit of pinball ensues in the Fulham box before Bullard sends an overhead kick clear.
    • 24' Flavio Briatore is in the directors' box with Mo Fayed. Given that QPR have been described as the new Fulham, maybe he has come along for a lesson in how not to do it.
    • 22' Goal disallowed! Sebastian Larsson knocks the ball in but not before he commits at least two 'foot up' fouls.
    • 20' Larsson drills the corner in but it is cleared by a fine defensive header.
    • 19' Stalteri gives away a corner and Birmingham get the pesky Radhi Jaidi forward.
    • 16' Kamara runs at Ridgewell but is too easily dispossessed. After his heroics last week, the Senegalses striker has yet to do the business this afternoon.
    • 13' Birmingham have offered nothing going forward as yet, with a pumped-up Fulham side outbattling them in virtually every department.
    • 11' Fulham are racking up offsides at an alarming rate. Kamara is flagged for the home side's fourth in the opening 11 minutes.
    • 8' Bullard can whip in a free-kick from just outside the right corner... plays it low to DAVIES!!!! WHAT A SAVE BY TAYLOR!!! Brilliant stop, diving to his left.
    • 6' Murphy takes a complete airshot from a Davies cross, then McBride rattles the crossbar - albeit from an offside position. But signs of life from Fulham.
    • 5' Fulham are not noted for the loudness of their fans, but there is a terrific atmosphere at Craven Cottage.
    • 3' Yikes! Maik Taylor is forced into a hurried clearance with Diomansy Kiomara bearing down on him.
    • 1' We're under way at Craven Cottage - Fulham in their usual white and black, Birmingham in all red.
    • - Let's get the cliche out of the way nice and early - this is a classic relegation six-pointer. These teams are 18th and 19th and the loser will almost certainly wave goodbye to the cosy confines of the top flight.

  • Team Stats

    Fulham Stats Birmingham City
    63% Possession 36%
    13 Shots 2
    6 Shots on target 0
    0 Saves 2
    2 Corners 8
    12 Fouls 10
    7 Offsides 2
    2 Yellow cards 5
    0 Red cards 0
    26 Tackles 14
    299 Accurate passes 138
    49 Bad passes 32

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Fulham
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Kasey Keller 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 0
      32 Brede Hangeland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 6 4
      4 Paul Konchesky 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 31 10 2
      17 Paul Stalteri 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 34 0 4
      18 Aaron Hughes 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 33 3 2
      21 Jimmy Bullard 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 35 5 2
      27 Danny Murphy 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 48 6 2
      25 Simon Davies 0 3 1 1 2 1 0 26 2 3
      20 Brian McBride 1 2 2 1 3 2 0 20 4 2
      11 Diomansy Kamara 0 3 0 1 0 4 0 15 3 2
      23 Clint Dempsey 0 2 0 5 1 0 0 23 7 2
      12 Tony Warner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      9 David Healy 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      3 Carlos Bocanegra 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      26 Leon Andreasen 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
      15 Erik Nevland 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 3 0 0
    • Birmingham City
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Maik Taylor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3 0
      24 Radhi Jaidi 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 9 0 3
      14 David Murphy 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 9 1
      2 Stephen Kelly 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 12 0 0
      6 Liam Ridgewell 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6 1 2
      22 Damien Johnson 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 16 1 1
      26 Fabrice Muamba 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 16 1 1
      7 Sebastian Larsson 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 16 3 3
      23 Olivier Kapo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 0
      9 Mikael Forssell 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 12 4 0
      16 James McFadden 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 8 2 0
      15 Franck Queudrue 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 3 1
      13 Colin Doyle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      10 Cameron Jerome 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0
      21 Stuart Parnaby 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      19 Mauro Zárate 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 8 1 2

  • Summary

    • 87' GOAL!!! GAME OVER!! Erik Nevland races through after Queudrue misses a simple header and slots past Taylor for 2-0!
    • 74' Dempsey!! Meets a fizzing cross from the right but heads well over!
    • 54' Kamara.. beats one!.. beats two!!... and another... and another!!... what a run!... and then he blazes his shot miles over the bar! Nice run, zero composure.
    • 52' GOAL!!!! FULHAM IN FRONT!!! Jimmy Bullard curls a free-kick onto the forehead of Brian McBride who finds the bottom corner. The big American doesn't miss those!
    • 40' Great long ball by Kapo for McFadden, but he inexplicably declines to shoot, squaring instead for Forssell and Aaron Hughes clears.
    • 8' Bullard can whip in a free-kick from just outside the right corner... plays it low to DAVIES!!!! WHAT A SAVE BY TAYLOR!!! Brilliant stop, diving to his left.
    • - Let's get the cliche out of the way nice and early - this is a classic relegation six-pointer. These teams are 18th and 19th and the loser will almost certainly wave goodbye to the cosy confines of the top flight.

Live Team Line-Up

  • Fulham

    Manager: Roy Hodgson

    Captain: Brian McBride

    On the Field

    • Keller
    • Stalteri Yellow Card
    • Hangeland
    • Hughes
    • Konchesky
    • Davies Yellow Card
    • Bullard Substitution Out (88′)
    • Murphy
    • Dempsey
    • McBride Goal Substitution Out (90′)
    • Kamara Substitution Out (68′)

    Subs

    • Healy Substitution In90′
    • Nevland Substitution In68′ Goal
    • Bocanegra
    • Andreasen Substitution In88′
    • Warner

    Injured

    • Litmanen
    • Omozusi

    Suspended

    None

  • Birmingham City

    Manager: Alex McLeish

    Captain: Damien Johnson

    On the Field

    • Taylor
    • Kelly
    • Jaidi Yellow Card
    • Ridgewell Substitution Out (46′)
    • Murphy
    • Muamba
    • Larsson
    • Johnson
    • McFadden Yellow Card
    • Kapo Substitution Out (59′)
    • Forssell Substitution Out (74′)

    Subs

    • Queudrue Substitution In46′
    • Parnaby
    • Doyle
    • Jerome Substitution In74′ Yellow Card
    • Zarate Substitution In59′

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None