- By Charlie Stong at Craven Cottage
Fulham toil to FA Cup win over Millers
By Charlie Stong at Craven Cottage
Fulham 1 (De Cordova-Reid 24)
Rotherham United 0
Att: 15,083
Much-changed Fulham laboured into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over plucky Rotherham at Craven Cottage this evening.
Bobby Decordova-Reid's strike from outside the box midway through the first half was the difference. And despite some dogged defence, the Yorkshiremen never really looked like getting back into it.
Of those to start Sunday's win over Arsenal here, only De Cordova-Reid, Tosin and Tomothy Castagne were on the pitch at the first whistle this evening.
But even with such a different team, Fulham would have been confident of seeing off the Millers - a side who didn't record a single win away from the glamorously-named New York Stadium in 2023 and who currently lie bottom of the Championship, seven points from safety.
However this really was one for the 15,083 die-hards who made the effort this evening.
The game's only real bright spot was De Cordova-Reid's super strike.
Rotherham had defended admirably until the point when left back Sebastian Revan was caught in possession. The ball was quickly worked to De Cordova-Reid, whose wonderful shot from 25 yard beat Viktor Johansson all ends up.
Rotherham's traveling fans thought their team had equalised minutes later, big front man Tom Eaves turning in a cross from the right, but the linesman's flag denied them.
The Millers were continuing to defend deep, forcing Fulham to bide their time. Rodrigo Muniz capitalised on an error in the centre of defence shortly before the break but his shot was pulled wide of the right-hand post.
Fulham thought they may have had a penalty themselves after 42 minutes. Andreas Pereira's shot came back off the post and, when Reid's shot was fired back in, it was blocked by Revan, but it was never likely to be a spot-kick as the defender turned his back.
The Whites continued to push in the second half. Goalkeeper Johansson got himself into all sorts of bother on the right of his box, but with the keeper out of position Rodrigo Muniz's shot was blocked.
The keeper then redeemed himself with an acrobatic save from Tosin's header - one for the highlights reel.
There was little else to shout about. The Fulham faithful wil be hoping for better come round four.
Teams:
Fulham: Rodak, Tete, Tosin, Reed (Cairney 74), Wilson (Willian 74), De Cordova-Reid, Pereira (Francoise 82), Muniz (Carlos Vinicius 74), Castagne (Robinson 82), Lukic, Diop
Rotherham: Johansson, Lembikisa (Appiah 81), Bramall (Peltier 55), Cafu (Rathbone 64), Clucas (Tiehi 64), Eaves (Nombe 64), Hugill, Lindsay, Odoffin, Morrison, Revan
Referee: Simon Hooper
