Bowler fires Silva bullet to dampen his ex-boss’ start
JOSH BOWLER came back to haunt Marco Silva with a goal that knocked Fulham off the Championship summit.
Silva might not have been too aware of the young winger during his 18-month spell in charge of Everton, with the £1.5million signing from QPR not featuring in a single senior game.
But he knows all about his talent now with Blackpool’s summer capture – who spent a season on loan at Hull City – a constant threat and helping himself to the second goal of his career.
It came in the 49th minute just when Fulham, unbeaten until this trip to the seaside, were attempting to stir themselves after a flat first half.
Instead it was Neil Critchley’s side – who had started the game winless and in the relegation zone – that took the lead.
Bowler’s runs down the right had already been causing problems and it was another which undid the visitors.
Taking off from midway in the Fulham half he galloped into the box evading a couple of challenges before firing past Paulo Gazzaniga.
A fightback didn’t arrive as Blackpool’s joyous fans taunted the visitors with chants of, “Top of the league, you’re having a laugh”.
Silva said: “It was not a good enough performance to win the game. We didn’t create enough chances to win this match.
“We have to analyse why we started the game so slowly and why our build-ups were slow. We had to have a higher degree of intensity.
“I did have some moments with Josh Bowler at Everton. He had a good afternoon.
“He had a good performance and good luck to him.
“His job now is to keep on improving.”
The Cottagers huffed and puffed and went close in a frantic finale, Aleksandar Mitrovic seeing a header clawed around the post by Chris Maxwell.
Substitute Neeskens Kebano’s free-kick sped across the face of the goal while another arrival from the bench, Harrison Reed, should have done better from close range after a flick on from Mitrovic.
It was a tale of frustration for Silva’s side, who had plenty of the ball and some moments of promise but no end product.
And they paid the price for not being able to get to grips with the lively Bowler, who was the launching pad for everything that was positive about the home side.
He could have added another goal on the break but was blocked as he moved in for the kill after cutting in from the left into the box.
Boss Critchley said: “I know what this group is capable of.
“We said before the game they haven’t lost but they are bound to lose sometime and we hadn’t won and we know we’re going to win sometime so why not today? It was an outstanding effort. I felt our performance had everything.”
BLACKPOOL: Maxwell 7; Gabriel
7, Keogh 7, Ekpitea 7, Garbutt 7; Anderson 6, Stewart 6, Wintle 6 (Dougall 79th), Bowler 8; John-Jules
6 (Husband 87th), Yates 6 (Lavery
(72nd) 6)
FULHAM: Gazzaniga 6; Odoi 6 (Muniz
79th), Tosin 6, Ream 7, Robinson 6; Decordova-Reid 6, Onomah 6 (Reed
(67th) 6), Seri 6, Cavaleiro 7; Quina 6 (Kebano (67th) 6), Mitrovic 6
STAR MAN: Josh Bowler
REF: J Busby