Fulham 3 Wigan 3
New Fulham boss Kit Symons was relatively pleased as his first game resulted in a 3-3 draw away to Wigan as both sides were reduced to ten men.
Adam Forshaw’s goal gave Wigan the impetus before strikes from Bryan Ruiz and Lasse Vigne Christensen gave Fulham momentum.
Roger Espinoza brought the hosts level before Shaun Maloney gave Wigan the lead before captain Wigan Leon Barnett was sent of for a last ditch challenge allowing Ruiz a late equaliser.
Symons said: “We’ve come away under the circumstances pleased with a point.
“When you’re 3-2 down inside the last ten minutes with ten men, it makes it a good point.”
Fulham failed to start brightly as Konstantinos Stafylidis was ruled to have fouled Callum McManaman in the box, Forshaw converted the penalty on 8 minutes.
The Cottagers showed some resolve to bounce back as Lasse Vigne Christensen continued his great vein of form with a smart finish to equalise on 30 minutes.
Just six minutes later Ruiz showed his class by coolly reacting to McCormack’s corner to give the Whites a deserved first half lead.
The home side came out blazing after the break and the relentless pressure finally broke Fulham’s defence through Espinoza’s wonder-strike from 20 yards on 54 minutes.
Things got worse for the Cottagers as McCormack was controversially sent off for a second yellow in the space of six minutes after a heated moment with James Maclean.
Wigan, using the extra man to their advantage, then re-took the lead as Shaun Maloney, with time and space in the box was able to calmly chip Marcus Bettinelli on the 81st minute.
On the 86th minute Christensen again showed his talent with a sumptuous through ball to Hugo Rodallega, who was cynically fouled inside the box by Barnett.
Barnett was shown a straight red to even the sides to ten a piece and Ruiz converted the penalty to share the points.
Picture courtesy of treevis, with thanks
