Fulham's second XI make heavy weather of it but eke out cup win against plucky Cambridge United
- By Yann Tear at Craven Cottage
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Carabao Cup Third Round
Fulham (0) 1 Smith Rowe 66
Cambridge United (0) 0
It won't go down as one of the great cup nights under the lights but Fulham did just about enough to sqeak into the next round of the Carabao Cup.
An Emile Smith Rowe strike midway through the second half denied League Two Cambridge what would arguably have been a deserved draw and the opportunity to carry out a giant killing though a penalty shoot out.
The near-miss of a couple of seasons ago when they lost to Liverpool in the semi-finals, showed that it might not take too much to hit the Wembley trail and when the cup draw has been obliging as this so far, why not dream of that first trophy in the club's history.
If Palace can do it.....
Regulation home wins against Championship Bristol City (2-0) and now Cambridge (Ok, not so regulation tonight) have put the Whites into the last 16 and another favourable draw could usher in a quarter-final appearance.
For the U's - once again under the guidance of Millwall legend Neil Harris - this represented a huge night and their fans packed the Putney End in impressive numbers and they were rewarded with a gutsy display. It was United's first visit to the Cottage for nearly 29 years, when the sides met in the bottom tier.
Marco Silva rested every one of the 11 who started Saturday's win over Brentford but had faith the back-ups would be more than good enough to get the job done. After all, they had the beguiling Kevin making his first start and would get to see sub Samuel Chukwueze for the first time. What could possibly go wrong\?
Well in the first half it very nearly did go wrong, with only a deflection denying striker Shayne Lavery an opening goal for the U's, who looked mostly untroubled as well as organised and highly motivated. They looked anything but a team a team three divisions below the Whites.
More intensity was required and Silva's demand to see an upping of the pace saw Adama Traore whistle a piledriver at keeper Jake Eastwood from an angle and Harrison Reed almost profited from a lucky ricochet - his rising left footer from the opposite side to Traore forcing the keeper into another save.
The build-up of pressure was starting to tell and soon after Cambridge made a triple substitution, the Whites finally found their shooting boots.
The keeper palmed away a volley from Raul Jimenez after Antonee Robinson had crossed from the left but Timothy Castagne followed up with a quick ball back into the danger zone for Smith Rowe to calmly put away.
The visitors' spirits never flagged and they kept getting players forward in numbers looking to grab a way back into a tight contest. Kevin struggled to make an impact in the way he had done in two previous cameo appearances and made way for Harry Wilson towards the end.
Whites: (4-2-3-1) Lecomte - Castagne, Diop, Cuenca, Robinson - Reed (King 60), Cairney - Traore (Chukwueze 60), Smith Rowe (Berge 82), Kevin (Wilson 87) - Jimenez (Muniz 82)
U's: (4-5-1) Eastwood - Bennett, Jobe, Rossi, Bradshaw - Mayor (Kaikai 64), McLoughlin, Mpanzu (Kachunga 72), Smith (Ball 64), Brophy (Knight 72) - Lavery (Kouassi 64)
Attendance: 16,254
