Stoke 3 - 2 Fulham

Posted Wednesday, January 06, 2010 by BBC.com

Stoke 3 - 2 Fulham
Mamady Sidibe's strike on his 150th Stoke City appearance proved the winner

Stoke were forced to hold off a late Fulham rally to secure a first league win in six games in a topsy-turvy match in snowy conditions at the Britannia.

Some dire defending allowed Stoke to go into the break three goals up, Tuncay kick-starting it with a neat header.

Abdoulaye Faye then slid in from close range and Mamady Sidibe half-volleyed the third with the Potters comfortable.

Damien Duff's deflected shot and Clint Dempsey's dipping long-ranger led to a nervy finale, but Stoke just held on.

It was a tense finish to an entertaining match, but home manager Tony Pulis might wonder how his side were forced to hang on in the closing stages having dominated for so long against a lacklustre Fulham outfit.

It was an impassioned display from Stoke, and one that provides a big fillip in their battle to retain top flight status this season.

However, their failure to put Fulham out of sight having dominated the opening hour only allowed the Londoners to produce a late fightback that almost denied the Potters a potentially vital win.

For Roy Hodgson's men, they need look no further than a woeful first-half defensive display when looking for answers as to how they failed to secure an away victory for the ninth straight league match.

The Cottagers' recent push up the league has been built on particularly solid foundations, and with star centre-half Brede Hangeland back in the side after a knee injury, their's looked a solid backline at kick-off.

Instead, time and again the Cottagers defence went missing in the bitterly cold conditions as Stoke belied their recent slump in form with an effervescent display.

Etherington was the key. He had already had a neat finish ruled out - correctly - for offside when his corner was headed goalwards by Robert Huth and turned in at the far post by Tuncay.

A needless foul on Liam Lawrence by Paul Konchesky then afforded him another opportunity to swing in a dangerous set-piece and, with the Fulham defence completely static, Faye slid home from all of two yards completely unmarked.

And Etherington completed a hat-trick of assists two minutes later when his cross was flicked on by Danny Higginbotham for Sidibe to mark his 150th Potters appearance with a half volley into the ground and up into the top corner.

It could even have been worse for Fulham and had Damien Duff not pulled off a double goalline clearance from Ricardo Fuller and then Huth, one could have forgiven the Londoners for staying in the warmth of the dressing room rather than emerge for the second half after the break.

Amidst the defensive carnage, Fulham did create a couple of half chances - Danny Murphy drifting a free-kick inches wide and form man Bobby Zamora forcing a smart block from Higginbotham inside the box early on.

But it was a truly half-hearted display from the in-form Cottagers, and when Hangeland (knee) and Zamora (suspected dislocated shoulder) had to be withdrawn before the hour mark, the visitors' cause looked a lost one.

Duff provided hope that wasn't going to be the case with half an hour remaining, though, collecting substitute Dempsey's pass and driving into the roof of the net via a deflection from 20 yards out.

And had Dempsey himself finished more accurately having collected Murphy's pass over the top minutes later, Stoke's resolve might have been tested a lot sooner as Fulham finally displayed some measure of fight.

As it was, the Potters regained their composure in the final quarter, and Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer was fortunate to beat away a Ricardo Fuller shot at his near post after it had taken a deflection.

Still, when Dempsey fired Fulham's second from nothing - a dipping volley from 25 yards that gave home keeper Steve Simonsen little chance - all of a sudden the Potters were forced to dig in for the first time in the match.

It was all too little, too late from Fulham, though, and City deservedly held on for the victory that moves them to within three points and a place off the Londoners in the Premier League table.