A rollercoaster of a match saw Fulham come out victorious in an entertaining 5-3 win against Sheffield Wednesday. Two goals apiece for Aleksandar Mitrovic and Neeskens Kebano, along with a late effort by Bobby Reid was enough for the whites to get over the finishing line.
The away side made it interesting despite being 3 goals down at halftime. Atdhe Nuhiu helped himself to a couple and Jacob Murphy also got himself onto the scoresheet.
The warning sign was there for the away side when Anthony Knockaert had the opportunity to thread the ball through to Mitrovic, however, his final ball was slack and overhit.
A few moments after, Neeskens Kebano cut in with a lovely first touch following a stunning cross-field ball from Michael Hector. Kebano did not hesitate to drive his shot low and hard from around 20 yards out and found the near corner; his first goal this campaign. The ball completely burst 15 minutes in, quite fitting with the pandemonium of the overall game.
Hector the creator again, a beautiful ball with the outside of the foot which set Cyrus Christie free. Christie got to the byline and then cut in on his left foot, he struck his shot low to the near post, but this time Joe Wildsmith in the Sheffield Wednesday goal dealt with it.
The first big warning for Fulham as Kadeem Harris was released by a sweeping ball from Josh Windass. The winger had the freedom of the left side and powerfully ran into our box, in the end, the shot was weak and easily held by Rodak.
Josh Onomah was on the half-turn when he received the ball in midfield and slotted a through ball to Mitrovic, unsurprisingly the big Serbian showed great composure and slid the ball into the bottom left corner. At this point in the game, he was level with Ollie Watkins of Brentford with 25 goals apiece in the race for the golden boot.
The Whites looked very dangerous whenever they went forward. Kebano whipped in a cross and Onomah arrived late onto a bouncing ball and displayed great technique to strike the volley towards the bottom left corner. On this occasion, Wildsmith got down low well and made the block.
Shortly after Dominic Iorfa was tempted into a lunging tackle as Kebano used his body cleverly on the left-hand side of the box to draw the rash challenge and win Fulham a penalty.
Mitrovic stepped up and smashed the penalty straight down the middle of the goal, claiming his second of the game and Fulham’s third. Incidentally, this goal took our main man ahead of Watkins and he became the outright top scorer in the Championship with one game to play.
Early on in the second half and Fulham overplayed in the box and got caught out. Maxime Le Marchand was unable to sort his feet out quick enough and lost the ball. This forced Rodak into action and he lunged into a tackle which gave away a contentious penalty to Sheffield Wednesday, it looked like a clean challenge with him taking the ball, but the referee disagreed.
Nuhiu stepped up for the away side and calmly rolled the penalty into the bottom left corner despite only coming on at halftime. The owls were definitely uplifted by that early goal and were now attacking with more intent. A concerning moment for everybody involved with Fulham as talisman Mitrovic went down for a prolonged period of time; thankfully he returned to the fray after receiving treatment.
In the 73rd minute, Kebano restored Fulham’s three-goal lead by scoring his second of the game and Fulham’s fourth. Just like London buses, Kebano gets one goal and another arrives shortly after. Harrison Reed won a free kick around 20 yards out, the left-winger took on the responsibility and cleverly passed the ball underneath the wall; leaving the goalkeeper stranded.
Sheffield Wednesday reacted quickly and five minutes later had the ball in the net again themselves. From a corner, the ball landed kindly for Jacob Murphy on the edge of the box and his shot was wickedly deflected wrong-footing Rodak in goal.
Nuhiu set up a tense finish when he headed home his second of the game, however, Bobby Decordova-Reid quickly eradicated any fear with an injury-time goal that made the three points safe for Fulham.
There was just enough time for some more drama as Harrison Reed was shown a second caution for a professional foul on the halfway line.
