Kasami’s cracker sparks rout
Crystal Palace disappointed to see the third and fourth conceded from setpieces.
Darren Bent made his first appearance in a Fulham shirt, after coming close to joining Palace, but it was Kasami and Sidwell who stole the limelight as both struck memorable volleys to turn the game on its head. Palace’s opener came after just seven minutes after a corner was cleared well by the Fulham defence but the Eagles kept the ball alive as it was worked back to Jason Puncheon. The Southampton loanee delivered a hanging cross which was met by Mariappa, who towered above Brede Hangeland to nod the Eagles ahead despite giving away up to eight inches in height to the Fulham skipper.
If Fulham had been mediocre in the first 15 minutes, their equalising goal was anything but as Kasami collected a long ball forward from Sascha Riether on his chest and, despite the close attention of Mariappa, rifled a volley of the highest calibre past Julian Speroni from the edge of the penalty area. In the closing moments of the first half, Fulham’s second was scored with aplomb by Sidwell. A Bryan Ruiz free kick slammed into the wall and dropped to the 30-year-old midfielder who thrashed a dipping volley past Speroni.
A third looked certain when Speroni’s fluffed clearance smacked into Berbatov, who laid the ball into the path of Bent, but the Villa loanee’s effort was pushed behind by the Argentinian stopper. But Speroni’s reprieve did not last for long as Berbatov was on hand to head home Ruiz’s resulting corner. Things went from bad to worse for Palace just five minutes later as Senderos was on hand to scissors-kick home another Ruiz corner from close range.
Speroni, Ward, Mariappa, Delaney, Moxey, O’Keefe, Jedinak, Campana (Thomas 46), Puncheon (Chamakh 56), Gayle (Phillips 69), Bolasie. Subs Not Used: Dikgacoi, Gabbidon, Kebe, Price.
Stekelenburg, Riether, Senderos, Hangeland (Amorebieta 46), Richardson, Ruiz, Sidwell, Parker, Kasami, Berbatov (Rodallega 90), Bent (Duff 77). Lee Mason.
24,881 FORMER Hibernian and Celtic manager Tony Mowbray last night left his position as Middlesbrough manager.
The club confirmed that assistant Mark Venus would take over from the 49-year-old, who has been at the helm since 2010, until a permanent successor is appointed.
A statement on their official website read: “Middlesbrough Football Club have today announced that manager Tony Mowbray has left the club with immediate effect.
“Assistant manager Mark Venus will take charge of the team until further notice.”
The statement continued: “The club would like to place on record their sincere thanks to Tony Mowbray for all of his substantial efforts, dedication and integrity.
“He leaves with the very wishes of all at the club.”
Mowbray has been unable to guide Boro out of the Championship in his three seasons in charge.
He finished 12th, seventh and then 16th last season, while things are panning out little better during the current campaign.
Boro have won just two of their opening 12 league games and lie 16th in the standings. They went down 3-2 at struggling Barnsley on Saturday and host Doncaster on Friday night.
After the Barnsley game Mowbray signalled he was willing to accept the criticism that came his way. “I can take it. As a football manager in an era of social networks and radio phone-ins you have to because everyone has an opinion,” he said. “You live with it every day now that there’s a platform and I am absolutely fine with that.
“The players didn’t capitulate against Barnsley despite being 3-0 down at half-time [the match ended 3-2] so I think they still believe in what we are doing here. And with the supporters, there has been both positive and negative reaction from them and I don’t think there’s a manager in the world who has total support of his club’s fans.”
However, despite Mowbray’s willingness to soldier on, it would appear the board’s patience ran out.
Bookmakers were keeping an open mind as to who will be chosen to replace Mowbary. Tony Pulis was installed as early 7-4 favourite, with Alex McLeish, Nick Barmby and Martin O’Neill also prominent in the betting.
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