Joao Palhinha scored a late winner to help Fulham produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. James Ward-tragic Prowse’s own goal gave the hosts the lead at halftime, but the Southampton captain made up for it by rightfully tying the score with a spectacular long-range free kick. The visitors suffered a “devastating” defeat, remain at the bottom of the table, and Jones appeared to be on his way to earning his first point as manager of his new team. Instead, the Cottagers moved up to the seventh position in the standings.
On a day when the Fulham supporters, including former manager Roy Hodgson, honored Pele (who played in a friendly match against Santos at Craven Cottage in 1973) and their former World Cup-winning full-back George Cohen, who sadly passed away just before Christmas, with a hearty minute’s applause, their team came from behind to defeat a tenacious Saints team. In truth, it was terrible for the visitors to be down a goal at the break after passing up a fantastic chance to take the lead, having Che Adams’ one-on-one attempt stopped by Bernd Leno, and then losing a goal in peculiar circumstances.
Andreas Pereira was unmarked when Willian’s deftly floated corner from the left found him on the outside of the box, but his wayward shot was heading nowhere near the goal – until it was deflected into his own net by Ward-outstretched Prowse’s leg. However, the Saints skipper made up for it by tying the score 11 minutes after the interval in his trademark fashion after Fulham gave away a free kick about 30 yards from the goal, with predictable results. Leno, who dove full length to his left to preserve the football scores but was still left grasping at thin air as the midfielder’s wonderfully struck set play flew into the upper right-hand corner, was aware of what was about to occur.
Following that, both teams had chances to win it, but the hosts ultimately came out on top when Kenny Tete flicked on a corner for Palhinha to score at the far post. There was still time for top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic to see his injury-time penalty saved by Gavin Bazunu.
“It is incredibly disappointing to perform at that level and achieve nothing. We occasionally demonstrated our potential as a strong squad, but if we want to earn points, we must stop giving up goals. Today’s performance level was significantly higher,” Nathan Jones said. “There are lessons to be learned, and we need to defend our box. There is a positive aspect, but right now we aren’t giving it a chance. Our defense is foolish, and it’s costing us games. I’m quite happy with the level of performance, but I’m horrified by how we gave up.”
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