Fulham beaten by Wolves as play-off chase stutters

Fulham 1 Wolves 3

Fulham missed another chance to hit the top six as they slipped to their first league defeat in nine games.

The Whites were way too ponderous during an uninspired first half and although they finally raised their game after going 2-0 down after the break, they ultimately left themselves with too much to do.

A point would have been enough to leapfrog Sheffield Wednesday into that coveted final play-off spot but – as in midweek against Blackburn – Fulham missed their cue.

Wolves, comfortable at the back for the most part, had even more reason to feel they could get something out of the game when they scored on the break after 34 minutes.

Danger man Helder Costa outmuscled a dithering Ryan Fredericks down Fulham’s right flank and a simple square ball offered up a simple tap-in for Ivan Cavaleiro.

And just two minutes after the break, Connor Coady got to the byline, pulling the ball back for Andreas Weimann to work space onto his left foot before drilling unerringly past David Button.

Within a minute of coming off the bench for Fredericks on 53 minutes, Denis Odoi reduced the arrears with a drive from the edge of the area, his right-footer finding the bottom right hand corner of Carl Ikeme’s net.

But Dave Edwards killed any hopes of rescuing a point by stabbing home from close range on 72 minutes, after Costa had danced past Ryan Sessegnon to lay the ball back invitingly.

Fulham: Button; Fredericks (Odoi 53), Ream, Kalas, Sessegnon (Malone 80); McDonald (Cyriac 46), Johansen; Kebano, Cairney, Ayite; Aluko.
Subs not used: Bettinelli, Madl, Martin, De La Torre.