Middlesbrough 2 Fulham 0
Albert Adomah’s late goal against the run of play sealed Fulham’s fate at the Riverside Stadium, but they went down fighting after a spirited second-half showing.
That second half started terribly for the visitors when Adam Reach put Middlesbrough ahead only 42 seconds after the restart.
Fulham, who had won their previous three matches under caretaker boss Kit Symons, then dominated and came close to equalising on three occasions.
Tim Hoogland hit the bar, Hugo Rodallega missed a good chance and Lasse Vigen Christensen’s effort was cleared off the line by Daniel Ayala as the home side held on.
Adomah gave Boro breathing space when he finished nicely after collecting Kike’s pass.
The Whites defended well in the first half but were undone straight after the interval when Reach diverted Lee Tomlin’s overhead kick into the net.
Reach then almost doubled the lead when he headed Adomah’s cross against the post.
Adomah had earlier hit the post himself after being found by Ryan Fredericks’ ninth-minute cross.
And as they looked to haul themselves level, Fulham were also denied by the woodwork after Ross McCormack’s cross had been met by Hoogland’s header.
Fulham continued to press and Rodallega fired over before Ayala denied Christensen and McCormack’s free-kick was pushed away at the near post by keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos.
Adomah took the all-important second goal really well, starting the move off and then firing past Marcus Bettinelli after good work from Kike.
Fulham (4-1-2-1-2): Bettinelli; Hoogland, Bodurov, Burn, Amorebieta (Smith 78); Parker; Christensen, Stafylidis (G Williams 59); Ruiz (Roberts 70); Rodallega, McCormack.
Subs not used: Kiraly, Kavanagh, Hyndman, Woodrow.
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This post was last modified on 05/10/2014