Manor Solomon secured all three points for Fulham in dramatic style as we ran out 1-0 winners over Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.
Marco was forced to make one change against Brighton from last week’s home tie against Nottingham Forest, with Harry Wilson coming in for the injured Aleksandar Mitrović, who was out with just a minor injury. Harry featured in his natural left-wing spot, but Bobby De Cordova-Reid ticked off another position on the pitch by starting up front as our man through the middle.
It was a strong start from the home side who had the first chance of the afternoon through Evan Ferguson, who leathered a shot at goal from distance, but it whistled over the crossbar, followed shortly behind by a whipped effort at goal from Solly March and his effort too went just wide of the mark.
In the 28th minute, after a period without too much action, it was the home side who yet again looked to be more dangerous when Joel Veltman had a shot at goal but Tim Ream stood firm to block his effort which deflected out for a corner.
It was Bernd Leno to the rescue when Ferguson was put through on goal. Our ‘keeper was quickly off his line to meet the attacker and put his body on the line to clear the ball away and out of danger.
It was a drama filled opening few minutes to the second-half, when a Brighton attacker went down inside the penalty area but the referee waved away any appeals, much to the dismay of the Brighton bench.
The south coast side had the ball in the back of the net in the 58th minute via March but it was correctly ruled out for offside by the linesman.
The opposition kept Bernd Leno busy with a few chances at goal but the German was consistently more than equal to it.
In the 88th minute and against the run of play, Manor Solomon, having only been on the pitch for eight minutes, finally broke the deadlock. Carlos Vinicius spun his defender and put in a perfect ball to Manor, who touched it excellently out of his feet before slotting it home past the ‘keeper.
In the 77th minute, it looked as though the home side had broken the deadlock, but it was again ruled out for offside by the linesman.
Deniz Undav got on the end of a Solly March cross, but his glancing header went wide of the goal as the clock struck 80 minutes played.
Alexis Mac Allister stood over a free-kick at the end but it fortunately went wide of the post and Fulham were able to take home all three points.
