Swansea 1 – 5 Fulham

Fulham moved another step closer to a return to the Premier League as they hammered home five goals against 10-man Swansea.

A 5-1 win allowed them to move even further ahead at the top of the table after Bournemouth were held to a 1-1 draw by Peterborough. The Cottagers now hold a 14-point lead.

All the goals came after half-time, Aleksandar Mitrovic’s opener added to by Ben Cabango’s own goal, Bobby DeCordova-Reid’s close-range finish and Neco Williams’ first two for Fulham. Joel Piroe scored Swansea’s consolation.

The visitors had been forced to be patient as Russell Martin’s men enjoyed 65 per cent possession in the opening 10 minutes.

Fulham keeper Marek Rodak was finally forced to show his quality when Michael Obafemi got a run on goal and fired in a shot from 25 yards that forced the Slovakia international to fly full length to his left to touch it away from the top corner.

But the defining moment of the first half came when Swans captain Ryan Manning received his marching orders.

The Republic of Ireland full-back had had an earlier run-in in the opening exchanges with Harry Wilson and when he lunged full length at the Wales winger just inside the Fulham half, referee Jarred Gillett had no hesitation in immediately brandishing his red card and any chance Swansea had of making it three wins in a row evaporated.

Just before the break, Mitrovic headed a far-post cross from Williams back across the goal and only inches wide of the left-hand upright.

Then, with only 14 seconds showing on the clock after the restart, Swansea passed the ball back to goalkeeper Andy Fisher, fatally lost possession on the edge of their area and two passes later Mitrovic had pounced to side-foot the ball into the net.

Worse was to follow for the home side seven minutes later when another attack ended with Cabango putting the ball into his own net, and Decordova-Reid made it 3-0 five minutes after coming on in the 67th minute.

The Swans pulled one back when Piroe headed home his 16th goal of the season, but there was another sting in the tail from the visitors as Williams scored twice in the closing stages – the second a superb strike from the right-hand side.

What the managers said…

Swansea’s Russell Martin: “It wasn’t two-footed and it’s not a lunge. He was on the stretch, but it is really difficult when players are running at full speed. It is not clear enough for me. We will appeal because he will get four games because he has been sent off before. I’m just really disappointed that such a good game of football was ruined.

“Our game management, especially in the first 10 minutes of the second half, totally killed us and we have to learn from that. They are a brilliant group of young men and they gave us everything tonight, unfortunately we were playing with 10 men against a very good team who are going up to the Premier League.”

Fulham’s Marco Silva: “In that moment, if you ask me, if I thought it was a red card, I have to say no. After seeing Harry Wilson’s leg, I started to think in a different way. If you saw the leg of Wilson, maybe you would think in a different way
also. I didn’t see the broadcast image. In the first moment I thought it would be yellow. Maybe it’s not a red card but 15 minutes earlier it’s a clear penalty. He (referee Jarred Gillett) made a mistake there as well, but it’s all part of the game.

“It definitely wasn’t our best performance, even the second half wasn’t our best. It is really tough in this competition with two games in three days. We scored some nice goals, which is good to see, and it is a really important three points after a fantastic win on Saturday. We did our job well, which is the main thing.”