Late leveller is sting in the tail for Fulham
SLAVISA JOKANOVIC stood with his arms folded and his face stern. He knew what this goal meant, he sensed the damage it inflicted.
When the final reckoning comes, this may just be moment when Fulham’s automatic promotion hopes evaporated.
His players dropped to their haunches. In the 94th minute, against fierce rivals Brentford, three points turned into one and Cardiff are now very much in the promotion ascendancy.
It was a splendid curling cross from Brentford’s Yoann Barbet and the header back across goal was nodded in by substitute Neal Maupay. There appeared to be a marginal offside in the penalty box melee, but that will be little comfort to Jokanovic.
Striker Aleksandar Mitrovic appeared to have the match won. His delicious strike, caressed into the bottom corner in the 70th minute, looked to have sealed a fifth win in a row and a fifth consecutive clean sheet. It was the Serbian’s 10th goal in 12 matches since joining in January.
Yet Fulham rarely appeared at ease in this match, outplayed as they were for extended periods and their goalkeeper, Marco Bettinelli, was often the busier of the two.
The gravity of Fulham’s task in this derby had intensified after Cardiff conjured victory at Norwich earlier in the day to move back into second place.
But Fulham have been peerless of late, winning eight and drawing one of their past nine matches as part of a 20-game unbeaten run stretching back to December 16.
Yet Cardiff’s victory seemed to spook Fulham and their forward momentum was threatened as much as at any point since December.
As such, Fulham began the match on edge. Bettinelli sent a pass straight out of play and the team, in general, lacked composure and coherence. Brentford should have punished them early on.
Dean Smith’s side carried the initiative, playing smart and zippy counter- attacking football with urgency as they looked to preserve their own slim play-off aspirations.
Romaine Sawyers slashed a strike into the side-netting. Florian Jozefzoon and Ollie Watkins exchanged passes in the final third and a last-ditch Denis Odoi challenge averted further danger.
Jozfezoon then capitalised on another loose pass by Tim Ream, jinking by two Fulham defenders and forcing an acrobatic save from Bettinelli.
Fulham finally roused themselves and Ryan Sessegnon was the man to ignite the fuse. He rampaged down the left flank, sliding a pass into Mitrovic and, when the ball ran loose, Sessegnon took aim first time and a rasping strike was deflected over.
A glorious sequence involving Stefan Johansen and Lucas Piazon released Sessegnon, whose low driven cross was brilliantly defended. Yet as half-time approached, Brentford regained the initiative.
Watkins whipped in a set-piece and Barbet’s powerful header was well saved once more. From the resultant corner, Barbet stooped unmarked but headed over.
The chances kept on coming. Danish centre-half Andreas Bjelland collected a diagonal pass on his chest, checked back inside and a rising half- volley seared narrowly over the top.
In t he second half, anxiety surfaced for both sides, as a to-and-fro contest gave way to a more timid affair. Mitrovic had his say — but Brentford insisted on the final word.