BOSS BLOCKS RYAN’S SPOT PRIZE
EVERYEVERY KICK, KICK, EVERY EVERY GOAL, GOAL, EVERY EVERY GAME GAME Ream the fall guy as teen’s denied treble
TIM REAM insisted he wasn’t the guilty party after denying teenage sensation Ryan Sessegnon the chance of a first senior hat-trick.
Sessegnon stepped up for his treble shot after being brought down by Paul Dummett in stoppage-time with the Cottagers cruising.
But the 16-year-old was stood down in favour of Ream on the orders of hardline boss Slavisa Jokanovic.
The US defender promptly fired wide in front of the Gallowgate End to become the SIXTH Fulham player to miss from 12 yards this term.
In all, they have scored just two of their 10 spot-kicks this season, which has cost them seven points in the Championship promotion race.
Fluffing
Ream said: “It wasn’t my decision – it was the manager.
“I was completely prepared to have Sess take the penalty, so it was embarrassing to miss.”
He joins Chris Martin, Cauley Woodrow, Tom Cairney, Sone Aluko and Stefan Johansen in fluffing his lines from the spot this season.
Ream came in for abuse from fans on social media, but took it on the chin.
The 29-year-old centre-back jokingly added: “Cheers for the kind words.
“Hopefully the penalty shouldn’t take away from the great team performance.”
Sessegnon was praised on Twitter by Newcastle legend Alan Shearer. Yp A8JFE D<CCFI
And the versatile wing-back said there were no hard feelings towards Ream for denying him a third after he rounded off two swift counterattacks inside eight second-half minutes.
Sessegnon said: “It was a great win and a great team performance. We have to keep pushing on now.”
Fulham can climb into the top six with a win against Blackburn tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Cairney showed why they priced him at £20m when Newcastle came in for the midfielder in January.
Cairney ran the show and capped a stand-out display by breaking the deadlock with a 25-yard screamer.
Sub Daryl Murphy grabbed a long-range consolation as Newcastle slumped to a fifth home defeat of the campaign on Rafa Benitez’s first anniversary in charge.
Murphy said: “We didn’t perform to anywhere near the level we can.
“It’s gone now and we must make sure we put it right next week.
“It’s nice to get a goal but in the end it counted for nothing.”