Half-time: Fulham 1 Brighton 1

Tom Cairney’s sensational strike lit up an otherwise flat Fulham display to pull them level at the break.

Brighton looked the sharper side for much of the first half and twice had early shots on goal.

Beram Kayal’s effort was gathered by Whites keeper Marcus Bettinelli and Tomer Hemed’s firmly-struck shot clipped the top of the bar.

Fulham had to wait to wait until the 29th minute to get their first serious shot away, with Cairney shooting over from the edge of the box, but Brighton went ahead with the next attack.

Full-back Bruno clipped a terrific low cross beyond the outstretched leg of Nikolay Bodurov and Sam Baldock produced a cool finish.

Matt Smith nodded over for Fulham from a corner before Cairney, collecting a ball from Lasse Vigen Christensen, fizzed in a left-footed shot from the corner of the box beyond former Whites keeper David Stockdale.

And Fulham could have been ahead going into half-time but Smith was unfortunate to see his header from a free-kick come back off the inside of the post.


Fulham: Bettinelli; Richards, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Voser; Cairney, Christensen, O’Hara, Pringle; McCormack, Smith.
Subs: Lonergan, Kacaniklic, Mattila, Woodrow, Tunnicliffe, Dembele, Burn.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook