Championship favourites Fulham were relieved to claim a point
against bogey side Preston, but cursing their luck for not leaving Deepdale
with victory in the bag.
Preston have now taken four points off the London club this season. But a league
double was not to be as Jean Tigana's multi-million pound outfit kept plugging
away and were justly rewarded with an equaliser. And when the goal came it was
special, Sean Davis producing a goal out of nothing crashing the ball in from
30 yards out.
Fulham team-mate Maik Taylor said afterwards: "We wanted to do really well.
The lads feel that they played extremely well and although we managed to get in
around the box the goals didn't really come. "We dominated them virtually
from the start but a win wasn't to be today. We knew it would be a very difficult
place to come to and get a result."
Fulham had the memory of October's 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage in their minds
as they tried to make amenTheir opponents were wout former Manchester United striker
Michael Appleton who scored that fateful night. And no-one could really have imagined
that David Moyes' team would grab such an early stranglehold on the game after
all of three minutes and 57 seconds.
Preston gained a corner when Chris Coleman headed out a Rob Edwards volley.
Gary Parkinson, who had been drafted into the side due to injury and suspension
problems, floated over a freekick and Michael Jackson claimed a free header
from seven yards out.
But Fulham refused to be downhearted and on six minutes Luis Boa Morte tested
keeper David Lucas with a ball across goal that the keeper did well to palm out.
A follow-up attempt by Bjarne Goldbaek was wide of the post. But Goldbaek continued
to press forward and might well have scored on 17 minutes if his 28-yard freekick
had been a few inches closer to the far post.
Boa Morte was denied by keeper Lucas for a second time on 19 minutes, failing
to beat the big man when really he should have chipped over for the finish.
Marksman Louis Saha, with 20 league and cup goals under his belt, had a rather
quiet afternoon and found himself booked for a dive on 20 minutes.
Preston tried to add to their lead and Jon Macken fired over the crossbar in
first-half injury time.
However Fulham were far superior on the ball and created acres of space in
midfield as Preston sometimes sat back on the ball.
Following the equaliser Davis went in search of a second. However his 71st
minute free kick was ironically cleared off the line by scorer Jackson.
With the minutes ticking away substitute Barry Hayles burst through the defence
and nearly scored with a fierce drive.
Preston: Lucas, Parkinson, Edwards, Jackson, McKenna, Gregan,
Robinson (Ludden 74), Meijer (Gunnlaugsson 69), Macken,
Anderson (Cartwright 45), Rankine.
Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Barry-Murphy.
Booked: Rankine, McKenna.
Goals: Jackson 4.
Fulham: Taylor, Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Coleman, Clark,
Goldbaek, Saha, Boa Morte (Hayles 67), Davis, Fernandes.
Subs Not Used: Hahnemann, Symons, Sahnoun, Lewis.
Booked: Brevett, Saha, Boa Morte.
Goals: Davis 60.
Att: 16,047
Ref: A Wiley (Burntwood)