Ten-man Fulham mauled by Bournemouth

Fulham 1 Bournemouth 5

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Fernando Amorebieta was sent off on his return to the Fulham side as Kit Symons’ men were comprehensively dispatched at Craven Cottage.

An unmarked Brett Pitman opened the scoring on 29 minutes when he converted Charlie Daniels’ cross and Matt Ritchie doubled the lead before half-time with a deflected shot from the edge of the box.

Pitman scored a spectacular solo effort on the hour mark but Fulham’s hopes were briefly raised when Matt Smith netted his first Whites goal.

However, the sending-off of Amorebieta, on his first start since November, was compounded by Ritchie lashing home the resultant free-kick and Steve Cook’s angled drive completed the rout.

Eddie Howe’s side were good value for it, too. They dominated the first half, Marc Pugh bringing a fine save from Marcus Bettinelli and Ryan Tunnicliffe scrambling clear as Callum Wilson’s header drifted dangerously towards goal.

While Fulham were often the authors of their own misfortune, allowing Pitman acres of space to drill in the opener, they will feel slightly hard done by with the second, as Ritchie’s shot hit Nikolay Bodurov to wrong-foot Bettinelli.

The half-time introduction of Smith added a focal point to Fulham’s attack and briefly gave them some impetus, but only after Pitman had bisected the midfield with a 50-yard run before slotting home.

Midway through the second half, Smith reduced the deficit as he latched on to a Ross McCormack pass and converted his first goal for Fulham.

But four minutes later, Amorebieta made slight contact with Wilson as he moved in on goal and was inevitably sent off.

The punishment did not end there, as Andrew Surman touched off the free-kick to Ritchie, whose powerful strike beat Bettinelli.

And as if to prove that it was unequivocally Bournemouth’s night, centre-back Cook produced a striker’s finish when he hit the far corner from a wide angle 12 yards out.

Fulham (4-1-2-1-2): Bettinelli; Hoogland, Bodurov, Hutchinson, Amorebieta; Parker; Tunnicliffe, Kavanagh (Fofana 72); Ruiz (Stafylidis 72); Rodallega (Smith 46), McCormack
Subs not used: Kiraly, Voser, Burn, Fofana.

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