Fulham 0-3 Leeds United
Fulham may have lost their 20th game of the season against Leeds United last night, but manager Kit Symons is adamant they have the advantage in the relegation fight.
Goals from Sam Byram, Sol Bamba and Mirco Antenucci gave Leeds victory as Fulham saw Kostas Stafylidis dismissed in the second half for two bookings in quick succession.
Defeat saw Fulham fall to 21st in the table, below Rotherham on goal difference, with a six point gap to Wigan Athletic in the drop zone.
But they still have Wigan, Rotherham and bottom side Blackpool to play and, despite only one win in 11 league games, Symons feels they have their destiny in their own hands.
He said: “They’re all massive games we’ve got coming up, Huddersfield, Wigan, Rotherham, teams in and around us, so it’s in our hands very much.
“We need three wins and it’s down to us to go and get them.
“We probably had enough chances to win three games against Leeds but didn’t score a single goal, so that needs to change.”
Fulham went behind late in the first half when Byram capitalised on some poor defending to head in Gaetano Berardi’s cross.
Soon after the restart, Bamba doubled his side’s lead by getting on the end of Alex Mowatt’s corner.
Stafylidis was sent off soon after and Antenucci finished the scoring late on after Marcus Bettinelli pushed the ball into his path.
“I thought we were excellent first half, playing really well and creating numerous chances but we didn’t take them,” added Symons, whose side had 27 shots to Leeds’ eight.
“I’ve obviously been in and around football for a long time and there’s very often that sucker punch if you don’t take your chances.
“Even second half when we were down to 10 men it’s 27 shots to their eight, so even with 10 men we’re creating really good chances but just didn’t take them, and goals change games.
“I’m incredibly frustrated because we played some really good stuff, we created some really good opportunities.
“We mixed our game up, played some direct balls into Matt Smith and played some good stuff through the midfield as well to create chances.
“Leeds couldn’t live with us first half but they came in 1-0 at half time. We shot ourselves in the foot again which has been the story of our season a little bit.
“Players sent off certainly doesn’t help either – it was a silly, stupid, petulant thing to do and it certainly didn’t help.”
Feature image courtesy of Fulham FC, via Youtube, with thanks
