THE VERDICT: FULHAM 1 TOWN 0 Boss admits late loss is ‘real knock’ to survival
WAGNER SAYS INJURY-TIME CRAVEN COTTAGE DEFEAT IS HAMMER BLOW TO HOPES OF BEATING THE DROP
BOSS David Wagner admitted the agonising 1-0 defeat to Fulham was a ‘real knock’ to Huddersfield Town.
Wagner’s side suffered a seventh straight defeat in December, equalling a clubrecord bad run, last set in 1955.
Jonas Lossl saved an 80th-minute penalty from Aboubakar Kamara but was then beaten in stoppage time by an Aleksandar Mitrovic strike.
Wagner said it was a hard defeat to take.
“It was a real knock, not just conceding a seventh straight defeat but the way it happened,” said the boss, who had Jonathan Hogg back and restored his 5-3-1-1 formation.
“This was a game without clear-cut chances for both sides. Apart from the penalty I don’t think there was a clear-cut chance in the whole game.
“Some shots from them, some shots from us.
“I think first half we controlled the game better. Second half, Fulham were better than they had been.
“Then we had the penalty moment where Jonas made a great save and, in stoppage time, we had the chance for a counter with an overload from Erik Durm, four versus three, but we were not able to pick up the second ball and fill the gap, because we were overloaded in the last line, so Sessegnon picked up the ball.
“Even with the overload in the Sergio Rico, Odoi, Mawson (Le Marchand, 45), Ream, Christie, Chambers, Seri (Kamara, 45), Bryan,
Cairney, Vietto (Sessegnon, 77), Mitrovic. Subs: Bettinelli, Ayite, Schurrle, Cisse. last line we were not able to stop Mitrovic. In this situation we have to take the offside line as our advantage, but we didn’t do it and we conceded the goal.”
How damaging is the defeat in terms of Town’s survival chances?
“This is a real knock, there is no doubt about it,” answered Lossl, Jorgensen, Schindler, Kongolo, Durm, Hadergjonaj, Hogg, Billing, Lowe, Pritchard (Kachunga, 65), Mounie (Depoitre, 65). Subs: Bacuna, Diakhaby, Hamer, Mbenza, Stankovic. Wagner. “It will take us some time to deal with it – more than half an hour after the game. We need some distance to reflect.
“I think both teams lacked creativity, but just one situation decided the game.
“We still have a lot of games to play, but it is obvious we have to collect more points and score