Fulham Away Drew 0 – 0
It’s December 22nd so the days are getting longer – spring can only be just around the corner, and there’s also a new optimism to go with a new boss. However Fulham is an away game in a Premier League campaign that had so far yielded one point on our travels and, besides, the 2 p.m. kick off means we’ll still finish in a winter dusk, and there’s a bitter north west wind too. Plus it’s not yet time for the new manager bounce with Ivan Jurić sitting in the stand as Simon Rusk continued in charge of a selection that included recalls for Ramsdale after injury, Armstong after suspension and Sugawara after poor form. After about three minutes positivity, there was to be little from an attack that consisted solely of Armstrong for the first half; fortunately Fulham couldn’t do much better, with their first half chances limited to shots from distance, albeit ones that sometimes didn’t miss by much and including forcing a finger tip save from Ramsdale. Dibling had seemed out of sorts in the first half and he was replaced by Archer; despite the extra forward, Saints were now without an ‘out’ option and they were under threat right from the restart – somehow, though, there is more resolution about our defending post RM and the storm was weathered. The around-an-hour substitutions started with Ugochukwu for Aribo before Fulham made their moves that included our old nemeses Traoré and Jiménez. Our man probably had his best game in a Saints shirt (it was of the Barbie Army variety) but Traoré’s threat was a worry, and with good reason when he crossed for Wilson to force an excellent save from Ramsdale and he later was to shoot narrowly wide. For Saints, Onuachu was given just added time to make an impact, prompting choruses of “if Tall Paul scores, we’re on the pitch” but I doubt that possibility raised the Met Police from their slumbers. Late shouts for a penalty were highly optimistic, although referee Robinson’s dreadful performance might have been inept enough to give it. Still, a point from Simon’s last game in charge (for the moment, anyway) sent the visitors away happy enough.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
2. Kyle Walker-Peters. A bit of a curate’s egg of a performance from KW-P, often frustrating but he may have been our best prospect going forward.
6. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, at the heart of a solid back line.
30. Aaron Ramsdale. So important to have him back and he may well be the main reason we got a point.
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