Fulham suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspurs in a match that was evenly fought with the end result not revealing the whole story.
Fulham controlled the entire match from start to finish and a 3-1 scoreline against them is not doing any justice to the effort that they put in at Craven Cottage.
Tottenham, though will be quite happy to continue there rich vein of form, and especially so in the absence of their mercurial manager Harry Redknapp, who was missing on the sidelines after undergoing a heart surgery in this past week.
The first goal of the match, which came in the first half of play was one that was made by the vision of on loan striker Emanuel Adebayor, who deliberately over hit a cross that made the Fulham defenders loose their defensive balance. John Arne Riise was no match at left back for the onrushing Kyle Walker. Walker passed it to Aaron Lennon who crossed it to Adebayor. The Fulham defenders deflected that cross in the path of Gareth Bale on the left who unleashed a terrific drive that went in off Chris Baird.
It was an amazing team goal from Tottenham despite Fulham dominating possession for most of the half.
The second goal was an absolute piece of magic from Aaron Lennon who was sent clear by Gareth Bale on the left flank. Lennon ran at the defenders and literally did them in. He first took the ball on his right and again shifted to his left to finish past the keeper Schwarzer and flummox Baird once more in the process.
Soon afterwards, Fulham got a goal back through a corner. Ledley King tried to defend it and in the process, the Spurs skipper headed it on to the back of Fulham center-back Brede Hangeland’s neck. The ball looped into the net thereafter with the goal being awarded to the Fulham man.
Jermaine Defoe, who came on for an ineffective Rafael van der Vaart was electrifying this evening. He left defenders for dead with his kind of pace and was able to find space on more than a couple of occasions. He has a goal to his name after some good work from strike partner Adebayor on the right. The former Togo international kept the ball alive and passed in on to Defoe, who finished the aplomb.
Although the scoreline did not reflect the true nature of the match, it was a well deserved 3 points for Spurs.