Tom Cairney scored the equalizer to help Fulham produce one of the close football results of the weekend in the FA Cup. When Jack Clarke took advantage of Issa Diop’s error to give the visitors a startling advantage in the sixth minute, it spurred the Black Cats to a tremendously successful performance at Craven Cottage. Tony Mowbray’s team had 17 shots, but Marek Rodak was able to stop them all. Fulham also put up a fight, with 21 shots, but Anthony Patterson kept them at bay time and time again. Cairney did, though, bring Fulham even with a superb solo goal that split the Sunderland defense in half before ripping into the bottom corner. When 15-year-old substitute Christopher Rigg scored in stoppage time, the visitors believed they had won the match, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Fulham sought to get back to winning ways after consecutive 1-0 losses to Tottenham and Newcastle, so they came out strong in the opening minutes of the game. Seven changes were made to the starting lineup by manager Marco Silva, but Sunderland took the lead right away. Issa Diop made a mistake, which was taken advantage of by Clarke, who stole the ball from the Fulham defender before sprinting in on goal and beating Marek Rodak. Tosin Adarabioyo’s header from an Andreas Pereira cross nearly gave Fulham the advantage in the 14th minute, but it rebounded off the ground, past Anthony Patterson’s crossbar, and into the ground.
Then, Ross Stewart was taken off the field on a stretcher with what appeared to be an ankle injury, resulting in Sunderland’s first replacement of the match and robbing him of the opportunity to add to his season-high tally of 10 goals after 13 games. A fast move down the left side by Manor Solomon gave Fulham another wonderful chance just before the break, but Pereira’s shot was well stopped on the line by Daniel Ballard. The hosts also had a chance when Harry Wilson, who had been picked out by Cairney on the right side, cut inside to open up space for a shot and compelled Patterson to make a good save.
A few minutes later, Patterson again made a save in front of Wilson to shut the angle for the Fulham winger. When Sunderland caught Fulham off guard, they nearly increased their lead. Patrick Roberts won the ball, ran through the majority of the opposition’s half, and then fired a shot that was just wide of Rodak’s goal. But shortly after the hour mark, Cairney’s deft individual flair gave Fulham the equalizer. Layvin Kurzawa found the midfielder in the box, but there was still much work to be done. He had to get past two players to open up space before shooting beyond Patterson.
In an effort to force a finish, Silva substituted Willian and Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Fulham’s top scorer did head a cross from Kenny Tete straight at Patterson. In the 90th minute, 15-year-old Christopher Rigg appeared to have given Sunderland the victory, but the goal was correctly disallowed for offside, necessitating a replay at the Stadium of Light.
“Strange game, I’ll admit. I’d say it’s fair to say that it was an intense game, typical of FA Cup games,” Fulham boss Marco Silva said. “However, the game was too broken for me as a manager to enjoy it, despite the fact that we were clearly more dominant.”
“The most important aspect of today was the optimism of the extremely young team that was on the field,” Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray said. “Only two players older than 22 or 23 remained on the field after Ross was taken off, and they faced Fulham, who had just defeated Chelsea here a few weeks prior and were enjoying a strong Premier League season.”
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