NUHIU SHOWS TRUE GRIT TO RESCUE OWLS
GARRY Monk praised the fight and spirit of his Wednesday players as his first home game in charge ended with a last-gasp equaliser.
Fulham seemed set to grab all three points at Hillsborough as they led into the dying stages via skipper Tom Cairney’s 42nd-minute strike, only to be denied by substitute Atdhe Nuhiu’s header in the fourth minute of five added on minutes.
After starting his reign as Owls boss last weekend with a 2-0 win at Huddersfield, the point gained at home to Fulham delighted Monk, who said: “We pushed right to the end, and got what we deserved, which was a point.
“I said to the players at halftime that it won’t be the last time they face a goal deficit so if they wanted to be a team, to build as a team, then they had to show character, and to fight in that shirt, and I thought they did that wonderfully well.
“There are definitely things we need to work on, but the foundations of fight, spirit, character and organisation, to come fighting back the way we did are most important, and we saw that.”
Fulham struck three minutes before the break.
From Joe Bryan’s low cross from the left, Owls keeper Kieren Westwood, perhaps deceived by the sun, which had been in his eyes throughout the first half despite him wearing a cap, took his time to react.
In the end, Westwood could only push the ball out to Cairney, who sidefooted home his second goal of the season from 10 yards.
Fulham dominated the game in terms of possession, with 71 per cent in their favour, but aside from Cairney’s goal, Westwood never had a meaningful save to make, and was almost redundant in the second half.
Instead, it was Wednesday who carved out the bulk of the opportunities, with Marcus Bettinelli making some good saves, while captain Barry Bannan also clipped a post in the first half.
On the hour, the home side should have equalised, with Bannan placing a cross on to the head of Jacob Murphy, only to glance his effort narrowly wide with his first touch of the game, after replacing Adam Reach.
After Bannan had volleyed a 20-yard left-footer just past a post two minutes later, the game had to wait until the 87th minute for the next chance, with late substitute Nuhiu heading a cross from Liam Palmer at Bettinelli.
That seemed to be it until one last attack at the death, with Nuhiu stabbing home at the far post after a deep cross from Kadeem Harris.
Gutted Fulham boss Scott Parker said: “When the goal comes so late, and in the manner it did, it is disappointing.
“In the end, it’s basic defending which has cost us and we sit here with one point instead of three.
“We keep doing what we are doing. It’s all about fine margins in what is a tough league. Last week against West Brom it was the same when a mistake cost us. Today, in the dying stages, you are trying to hang on to something, to get three points and get things rolling. But it’s not been the case.
“So we move on and we dust ourselves down.”