Fulham stumble into Championship play-off final after Cardiff fall just short

Lock out the fans, play the games in late July, append them to a Championship season whose agonies away from the pitch have largely overshadowed the action on it. It turns out none of those enforced measures can drain the life from the play-offs and Cardiff came within a whisker of proving the point emphatically.

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Fulham, rather than Neil Harris’s side, will face Brentford in the Wembley final on Tuesday and that is an alluring prospect given the west-London rivals’ technical merits. But they were mightily fortunate to emerge unscathed from a tie that should, given their two-goal lead from the away leg, have been dead on arrival and there was no mistaking the sense of relief that wafted out over the Thames moments after Robert Glatzel had volleyed Cardiff’s last chance over the bar deep into stoppage time.

By then Cardiff could already have become the first side to overhaul a two-goal deficit in a second-tier semi-final. “The way the game panned out was not how I expected it,” Scott Parker, the Fulham manager, said, speaking for most of those present except the contingent that had rolled along the M4. “But a wounded animal had nothing to lose, putting us under pressure.”

Parker was referring to Harris’s pre-match description of his own team, who had been floored by Neeskens Kebano’s late free-kick on Monday. The sense of possibility seemed muted at the outset, despite the glorious mid-evening sun radiating across the Thames, but Cardiff raised themselves. It was quick, direct, aggressive football, every action designed to maximise their opponents’ discomfort, and Fulham were caught off-guard.

They were certainly rattled by the presence of Will Vaulks, who had seemingly been called up on account of his booming long throw. His second of the match spooked Marek Rodak, the Fulham goalkeeper, sufficiently so that he tipped the ball over even though any goal would not have counted. Joe Ralls swung in the resulting corner, Curtis Nelson leapt highest and the tie was alive within eight minutes.

It seemed to have died again 24 seconds later when Cardiff, unusually but fatally, fell asleep and their former striker Bobby Decordova-Reid crossed for Kebano to convert on the run. Fulham settled down for the rest of the opening period despite further attempts to pack their box from set pieces and Alex Smithies’ fingertip save from Anthony Knockaert effectively guaranteed a contest for the tie’s final half.

What a 45 minutes of football it turned out to be. Harris upped the ante by introducing Lee Tomlin and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and within 90 seconds the latter had drawn a brilliant save from Rodak after meeting another Vaulks howitzer. Tomlin was perfectly placed to convert the rebound and the tempo from thereon was breathtaking.

The Fulham substitute Aboubakar Kamara forced a tip round a post from Smithies and then an even better one on to it. But Cardiff were relentless and should have completed the turnaround. Mendez-Laing, whose presence changed the game, crossed for Josh Murphy but the winger headed straight at Rodak. Then Leandro Bacuna delivered millimetres ahead of Danny Ward but the most telling intervention would come from Rodak.

“When you’re under it you need certain players to step up,” Parker said, and he was referring to the moment 18 minutes from the end when Vaulks – showing aptitude with his feet this time – thrashed in a volley that appeared to have him beaten. Somehow Rodak tipped it over and Fulham, whose trials were not yet over, could breathe again.

“They pushed themselves to the limit and then that big chance came,” Harris said, referring to the gargantuan effort that preceded Glatzel’s late miss. It was hardly a sitter but Harris would have backed a player who is “so reliable around the penalty area” to score.

Instead he could only reflect on the strides Cardiff, who were 14th when he took over in November, have made in the last eight months. “I showed my disappointment [afterwards] with strong words: I want more,” he continued. “But I’m also proud of them.”

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Parker was justified in feeling pride too, even though Fulham had sailed close to the wind. His players were serenaded by celebrating supporters outside Craven Cottage after full-time and will hope to match their win over Aston Villa in the final of two seasons ago, if not the disastrous Premier League campaign that followed.

“It was a roll-your-sleeves up night where you need to do everything to win the game, the massive prize is the final,” he added.

Fulham might find more enjoyment in Brentford’s artistry than in the buffeting they received against Cardiff. Either way, it will be a tussle between the best of London’s west and Parker, who hopes Aleksandar Mitrovic will be fit, could simply thank his lucky stars he will be there at all.