City lose in FA Youth Cup

[Bill 1,788]

Fri 14th Jan

Fulham 3 - 0 City

Report from a Fulham source -

Fulham started the game in bright fashion with Trotta creating the first opportunity of the encounter with a wonderful first touch in the area which took him away from two defenders. The Italian striker spun and hit a fine volley which had Remi Matthews, in the Norwich goal, beaten. Unfortunately Trotta’s shot clipped the outside of the post.

Norwich soon started to assert themselves in the game and, courtesy of some unforced errors in the Fulham defence, were able to pressure the Whites’ back line – thankfully without any end result.

Fulham almost opened the scoring on 15 minutes after Kerim Frei surged through midfield before laying a pass into the path of Ronnie Minkwitz whose shot was saved well by the onrushing Matthews.

The Whites continued to look good in attack and moments later Alex Brister found himself in a promising position. Although the Fulham attacker scuffed his shot somewhat, the keeper was well beaten, only for a spare defender to clear off the line.

Fulham’s attack was certainly the more incisive in the first-half and another fine counter-attack saw Josh Pritchard try an audacious chip from the edge of the penalty area which just sailed over the bar.

Fulham deservedly took the lead in the 23rd minute courtesy of a crisp finish from the edge of the area from Alex Brister. The impressive Ronnie Minkwitz played the ball to Brister who placed a fine shot inside the far post.

The Whites started in the second-half in a confident manner but there was a moment of danger when Aaron Pierre brought his man down on the edge of the Fulham area. Jesse Joronen needed to be alert to punch out the resulting set piece and clear the danger.

Trotta played the role of the lone front man to perfection, holding up play well and being ably supported by willing runners from midfield. Norwich captain Matthew Ball picked up his side’s second yellow card of the second-half when he was forced to bring down Frei after another purposeful run from the Fulham midfielder following excellent work from Trotta.

Cristian Marquez-Sanchez almost netted and remarkable goal when his 50 yard run took him into the heart of the Norwich penalty area unfortunately the Spanish youth international smashed his shot into the side netting.

Aaron Pierre’s involvement in the game ended on 67 minutes when he was replaced by Robert Maloney. But Fulham doubled their advantage soon after when tenacious work from Trotta won possession back for the Whites inside the Norwich area. Trotta muscled his way past a defender before playing a square pass across the face of goal, leaving Kerim Frei with a one-yard tap in.

Trotta then netted a well-deserved goal on 77 minutes, confidently collecting the ball 20 yards out before stroking a sublime left-footed finish past Remi Mattews. Kit Symons’ men then saw out the remaining minutes comfortably.

The Whites will now play Wigan or Watford at home in the Fifth Round (fixture date and time to be confirmed).

Fulham: Joronen; Marquez-Sanchez, Kamau, Toure, Pierre (Maloney 67); Arthurworrey, Brister (Gameiro 83), Minkwitz, Trotta, Pritchard (Owusu Ansah 80), Frei

Norwich: Matthews; Barker, Toffolo (Stevens 78), Brindley, Jones, Gordon, Oakley, Dobbs, Werndly, Ball, Kelly (Loza 45).

Attendance: 645

.

[chicken 0]

Bloomin eck.

Is it me or does no one find it weird to be seeing foreign nationals playing for teams at a youth level? I mean I get that clubs try to spot tallent abroad now at young ages as it is easier to sign them than it is a youngster from 91 miles away.

I also understand they are in London and not all of their team are from abroad and may merely look it but it sort of just compounds why homegrown tallent reportedly isn''t coming through as much as it used to.

[Tim Allman 1]

Just back from the game at Craven Cottage. Fulham were a big strong side at the back and had a huge old unit playing defensive midfield so were difficult to get through, especially as City were in a sort of 4-1-4-1 formation for a great deal of the game. Fulham were well drilled in the dark arts of holding, nudging and diving which was frustrating to watch. Werndley was up front and played well but struggled playing against three.

 

City passed it round well, but on quite a few occasions were caught in possession and Fulham had quite a few decent chances to score before they did after around 20 minutes. We had some decent spells with the ball but didn’t pose a huge goal threat.

 

The second half started very openly, a couple of chances either end and I thought if we had scored with one of our two good shots at got to 1-1 City would could have gone on to maybe win. The second goal was avoidable; their No 7 closed down out right back who should have cleared it earlier and he forced his way to the byline and the ball was deflected in at the near post.

 

The third soon followed by their No 9 who must have been training with Tom Daley before signing for Fulham. A good finish.

 

Overall a decent game but the scoreline did not reflect the play. Fulham were the better team but we showed some good promise. Ryan Oakley looked dangerous and Remi Matthews made a couple of decent saves.

 

 

[Big Slob 0]

Bloody hell! Just looking at the surnames of the Fulham players compared to ours, ridiculous

[Gingerpele 0]

Most of them probably are English, born in London..... I would imagine their is quite a large population with foreign sounding names

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,822]

If Wiki is correct, 10 out of Fulham''s 22 academy players are English. 12 out of 22 are British.