Woo Hoo!

Happy! Happy! Happy!

We beat Arsenal Reserves 3-0 last night. There's a proper report here. I caught glimpses of the game on Arsenal TV in between the ad breaks of a "Relocation, Relocation" repeat.

The team saw a nice mix of fringe first teamers and up and coming youngsters. I'm getting over excited but can't help feel that players like Wayne Brown, Rob Milsom and Junior Omozusi could actually break into the first team. Not to mention Giles Barnes!

Whoop! Whoop! Woo Hoo!

Kingstonian 0 Fulham XI 8 - Match Report and Photos

A Friday night trip to Kingsmeadow and the chance to see the team from the town of my birth play the team I support. This was billed as a Fulham Reserves side but featured a number of senior players either on the fringes of the squad or in search of pre-season fitness. The team lined-up GK: Neil Etheridge, RB: Moritz Volz (c), CB: TJ Moncur, CB: Chris Baird, LB: Joe Anderson, RM: Wayne Brown, CM: Robert Milsom, CM: Andranik, LM: Hameur Bouazza, ST: Clint Dempsey, ST: Erik Nevland, Subs - GK: Wesley Foderingham, CB: Chris Smalling, MF: Lewis Cumber, MF: Lewis Smith. Conspicuous by his absence (appropriately enough, as you could say that about his entire Fulham career) was Lee Cook who had been listed in the expected squad but completed a loan move back to Q.P.R. earlier in the day.

The attractions of the club bar and a bit of confusion on my part as to exactly when kick-off was meant I missed the beginning of the game and also Fulham's first goal (scored by Nevland). The action I did see saw the Whites not really getting out of second gear. Despite looking comfortable in possession we weren't creating many goal scoring opportunities and if anything it was Kingstonian that looked the most likely to score. Dean Lodge looked lively on the right wing and was the inspiration behind most of the K's attacking play. Phillipines number 1 'keeper (copyright Colin at CaB ) Neil Etheridge was forced into making a number of saves as our back four made hard work of the task at hand. Just before the break a defence splitting pass from (I think) Andranik allowed Hammeur Bouazza to race through and fire home a second goal.

The second half saw Fulham up the tempo and Wayne Brown scored very early on with "an exquisite curling strike just after the break". I managed to miss that goal as well (the evils of a comfortable bar - what can you do?) but reports suggest this was probably the goal of the game. Nevland doubled his tally, Andranik won a penalty which Clint was first in the queue to take and successfully fired home. Chris Smalling replaced T.J. Moncur in defence. I felt T.J. did as well as any of our defenders on the night. Chris Baird was poor and didn't do anything to suggest he was any better in a central position than he was at right back whilst Mortiz Volz improved as the game went on but also failed to shine. Joe Anderson who had worked hard at left back was replaced by Lewis Cumber (a move which saw Robert Milsom drop into the left back role) and Lewis Smith came on for Wayne Brown. Bouazza blasted a shot into the roof of the net to make it six, before Dempsey added his second and Lewis Smith completed the scoring.

New signing Andranik was the player that impressed me most. He always looked comfortable on the ball and pretty much dictated the flow of the game. Playing in that holding midfielder role he was able to help out the centre backs mopping up any loose balls and was usually the starting point for any forward play. Wayne Brown impressed again playing mainly on the right wing. good feet and a bundle of energy he's the one home grown player I've seen who might have enough to break into the first team. Lewis Smith also caught the eye. He had the benefit of coming on for the last 10 or 15 minutes by which time the K's had made several changes and were visibly running out of steam. Like Brown, Smith had some neat touches and took his goal very well.

A nice way to spend a Friday night then. It's always great to see your team win a game by 8 goals, even if you do only see 6 of them. There's also a short report from the Kingstonians site HERE.

Fulham free kick about to be sent harmlessly over the bar (just like the first team!)

Robert Milsom attempts to control the ball under pressure

Bouazza in the foreground looking for space, whilst Andranik directs operations

Reserves looking strong with a win over Spurs

A very short post to congratulate the Reserves on another good win. The announcement some time ago that this game was to be played at Craven Cottage had me expecting a return for the prodigal Jimmy Bullard but it was not to be. Jimmy's probably a good couple of weeks away from an actual game. Volzy continued his rehabilitation with another sixty minutes, but the rest of the team (Warner aside) were fairly young and have done well to nick a win in the last few minutes.

Fulham report HERE

Spurs report HERE

UPDATE: Nice report from White Lines HERE

Reserves 3 Portsmouth 0 - Volz makes return in comfortable victory

A very strong Fulham side eased to a 3-0 victory over Portsmouth at Motspur Park tonight. I had hoped to attend, but was diverted (after some gentle persuation by Mrs Chopper) into running some pre-Christmas errands instead. Mortiz Volz made his return from injury, playing 61 minutes at right back. The folk at HammyEnd.com will be pleased that Alexey Smertin has at last been located, managing 67 minutes before being replaced by Lino Goncalves who came on to score our third and final goal. More surprising was the inclusion of Seol Ki-Hyeon who played the full 90. Maybe this suggests Sanchez is unhappy with his fitness levels, but he was instrumental in setting up one of the goals. Wayne Brown put in yet another impressive performance being involved in much of Fulham's attacking play, he scored the first goal after 50 seconds and doubled the lead midway through the second half.

Report from Fulham Offal HERE and from Portsmouth HERE.

Darth Vader awakes, Reserves draw and Collins John goes out on loan.

I'm very tired today. I was awoken at 4:30 this morning by Son number one complaining of a noise in his room. I stumbled down the landing to see what was wrong to hear what appeared to be a small frog croaking away. Now, I'm not a morning person at the best of times and 4:30 a.m. is not the best of times. My brain struggled to cope with what I was hearing. It couldn't be a frog. The sound was too repetitive.

... croak ... croak ... croak,
...... maybe it's the clock?
......... croak ... croak ... croak,
............no, hang on it's coming from the back of the door.

I closed the bedroom door and the noise stopped. I opened the bedroom door and the noise started again. A ha! The source was discovered. Ben's Darth Vader costume was hanging on the back of his door and the Vader breathing noise had somehow been set off and instead of what would have been the sound of Darth Vader waking Ben up in terror the battery had run down and sounded more like a frog but equally scary to a previously sound asleep seven year old.

To try and pull this all round to something related to Fulham, it all goes to prove that sometimes things are not all that they seem. Richard over at Craven Cottage Newsround has written an interesting piece about the comfort that can be taken from looking at the Goal Difference column. Last season, as I was looking for ways to make our situation seem less bad, I wondered if the league could actually be based on goal difference instead of points. Then, instead of people being so fixated on results the games would just be about scoring goals. In the end I convinced myself it was a silly idea, but I agree with Rich that it is a good indicator of how good a team really is. Still I'm not sure that’s going to help us in the next few weeks but I'm grateful for anything that can give me a bit more optimism!

Some news of interest to regular reader Shufty. The Whites reserves played West Ham United at Motspur Park last night and pulled off another draw. The Offal reports that the game was fiercely contested but Fulham showed a great deal of endeavour going forward. Under 18s 'keeper Neil Etheridge made his second start for the reserves in the absence of the loaned Brookes-Meade. Shefki Kuqi played just over an hour up front, but it was strike partner Bradley Hudson-Odoi who gave the Whites the lead in first half stoppage time. The West Ham website reports that Kyel Reid was their outstanding player, in a side that featured Nigel Quashie, Jonathon Spector and John Pantsil, and it was Reid's strike that levelled the scores in the second half. Both sites praised Fulham's Wayne Brown for another all action performance.

A very short statement on the Offal also confirms that Collins John has joined Leicester City on loan for three months. An interesting move in light of the suggestion that current Leicester boss Gary Megson could well be on the move to Bolton Wanderers. I'm not sure where we stand on getting a fee for CJ who is out of contract in the summer. He's still only 22 so we may be entitled to something, but I imagine our main concern will be to offload him from our wage bill in January.

Further to the Bolton Wanderer's vacancy, FulhamWeb are reporting that Chris Coleman has now met with officials from the club. I would be stunned if Cookie got the job but it would be very interesting to see how he got on if he did.

Thinking positive

I had a nice day yesterday. It's half term so I was at home with my eldest, and we took one of his school friends over to Sandown to play Golf. It was a chilly day but sunny, the type of typically British autumn mornings I really love. Ben, without me nagging in his ear about keeping his eye on the ball, played the best golf I've seen him play. He hit one drive so well he sheared the plastic tee in two. The shot was dead straight and right down the middle of the fairway. Meanwhile his pal, who hadn't played as often, had to suffer me attempting to "help" him out and subsequently spent a lot more time in the rough ... lesson learnt there I think! Back at our house they had a quick lunch and then went upstairs to play. They were so well behaved I had to go up and check on them a couple of times just to feel I was making the effort.

This gave me some time to myself I wasn't expecting and I had time to read some other people's perspectives of the Fulham situation. There's a lot of doom and gloom about, understandably, but what really took my notice where those people who were being more positive about where we're at. I don't think any one is happy right now, but there are a few who rightly point out that it is still early days, and however bad we are there are at least seven other teams in exactly the same boat. Sanchez is no fool and he will realise exactly what he needs to achieve to keep his job. We have to take each game as it comes and the next match at Sunderland is going to be a tough one. I'm not anticipating a magic turn around in fortune, but a point up there would be a small step along the road to recovery.

Kasey Keller won't be back for sometime having collected a freak training ground injury that may require surgery. He's likely to be unavailable for some three to four months, which makes Anti Niemi's man of the match performance on Saturday all the more significant. Unfortunately it does leave us back at square one regarding our back up 'keeper, but hopefully Niemi can continue to play the way he did against Derby.

Tonight the reserves take on West Ham at Motspur Park. Kick off is 7:00 if you fancy heading along. I don't think I'll make it now but will report back on the result sometime tomorrow.

Reserves Draw, Academy Lose, Paper Talk

The reserves travelled up to Pride Park on Monday night to take on Derby County. A more familiar looking team, first teamers are clearly excused these sorts of trips, managed a creditable 1-1 draw against a strong Derby side that featured Giles Barnes, Jon Macken, Craig Fagan and Andy Todd. The Offal report is here and there's a decent report from the Derby site here.

The under-18 academy team played their "home" match on Saturday at Arsenal, where they lost 3-1. There's a report on Arsenal.com, though scant details of our side. The Arsenal goals came from a Nacer Barazite hatrick. He's a decent player who I think may have featured for their reserves against us last season.

Liam's been having a pop at Sanchez. Sentana report Liam as stating “It was my choice to leave Fulham to move to Reading, sometimes you don’t get on with the manager and everyone knows me and Lawrie didn’t see eye-to-eye. He tried to make it into a playing issue like I wasn’t good enough, but that was never the case. I found that hard. I was upset and surprised. For Lawrie to talk about the team conceding certain goals and putting my name to it was pretty disrespectful and I want to prove to people I’m a better defender than that. Steve Coppell is the right guy to take me on to the next level because he has great experience as a manager and a player”. Personally I think Liam would be better off letting his football do the talking.

Who Ate All The Pies kick a man when he's down with a poll to decide if Chris Baird is the worst player in the Premier League. It was pretty close when I last checked, but Chris was just edging it thanks to the likes of Titus Bramble and Danny Collins.

Finally the Telegraph do a bit of a hatchet job on LS, though slightly shoot themselves in the foot by claiming that "it took 42 minutes for [V.I.P. guest and Formula One team owner] Flavio Briatore to be treated to some high-octane action, and even then it was not at Fulham's instigation" before going on to acclaim David James as Man of the Match for keeping a clean sheet and making 11 saves. We must have squeezed 11 efforts into the last 3 minutes of the first half then 'cos I don't remember James making many saves in the second half.

Reserves beat Filth as I follow the road to Wembley

I had a choice of games last night. A short trip to Motspur Park where I could have got in for free to see the reserves play Ch*ls** or a drive down to Camberley Town to see their F.A. Cup 2nd Qualifying Round reply against Dartford. Typically I choose the game with the least goals.

The reserves fielded a strong side featuring both Collins John and Shefki Kuqi up front, as well as Micheal Timlin in midfield and Adrian Leijer in defence. We took an early lead via a Collins John shot. By half-time Ch*ls** had equalised but seen Wayne Bridge (attempting rehabilitation from a hip injury) sent off. Two headed goals from Leijer and Kuqi gave us a 3-1 lead early in the second half and, despite Ch*ls** pulling one back through a penalty in the closing minutes, were good enough to claim a 3-2 win. Good to see the continued use of fringe first team players in the reserves side. Surely something that can only benefit those players and help the younger reserve squad members develop their games. There's a decent report on the Offal here.

My decision to travel down to Camberley was not entirely without reason. My friend Andy is attempting to follow the road to the F.A. Cup Final from the Extra Preliminary Round. This is one of those great Football quests that I'm sure many readers will have considered at some point in their football watching lifespans a bit like trying to go to every ground in the league. Andy's writing a blog called, Wick to Wembley?, about his experiences which is an entertaining read and has already been shocked at the level of interest. The great thing about the early round of the Cup is the excitement it brings to the smallest of teams, dreams of reaching the first round proper and meeting a league side and maybe even beating them. For me it's what the F.A. Cup is all about and why there will always be a special magic about the competition.

So far Andy has spent a disproportionate amount of time in Kent and my attendance at Fulham games had meant I'd not been able to join him so far. However, when Dartford got drawn at home to Camberley Town I thought to myself I might join Andy for the replay. Dartford are a Ryman Division One North side one level higher than Camberley Town who play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division. Dartford have a very impressive state-of-the-art stadium, Camberley don't. Dartford have a reasonably sized and quite vocal fan base, Camberley don't. Clearly I was going to be supporting Camberley. Dartford started strongly and dominated the opening 20 minutes, despite this Camberley defended well and, despite appearing physically much smaller, coped admirably with the bombardment of aerial through balls during this spell. The Dartford travelling army were making themselves heard and were particularly vocal about Camberley's attempts to foul their players. They were well aware that despite dominating the first match Camberley had twice pegged them back with long range shots and also benefited from some generous refereeing decisions. Unfortunately for them their players had not heeded the warning. Star striker Jay May received a straight red for lashing out at a Camberley player who had just kicked him from behind for the third time in succession. For a spell Camberley had started to look the better side, but the sending off galvanised Dartford's approach and despite the numerical disadvantage were again looking the stronger side, and also playing more football, come the end of the half.

Camberley came out a different team in the second half. Whether this was down to an inspirational team talk or the slope in the pitch was difficult to judge, but they started playing much sharper football and making the most of the extra man. Despite most of the action again being up our end, the Dartford 'keeper had few genuine saves to make and the longer the game progressed the more it looked like petering out into a 0-0 draw. Dartford were struggling to create much up front, but still controlled much of the game thanks to midfielder Alex O'Brien. The game went into extra time just as the coldness of the night really started to hit home. Camberley continued to create and still playing down the slope had two great chances to win the game before the turn. The slope factor was evident in the final 15 minutes of extra time as supremacy again swung back towards Dartford. They also had their chances to win it but were denied by a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping. Inevitably the game did indeed finish 0-0 and we went to penalties where Dartford showed their composure to claim a 4-1 win. As we left the Dartford team were piling into the little covered stand to join in the celebrations with their supporter's. It was clear how much the win meant to them and they now face a trip to Bromley F.C., who may or may not be in Kent, of the Blue Square South division.

Despite the lack of goals it was a good night out, and a nice reminder of what it's like in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. As Andy continues his journey he will eventually leave behind the world of non-league clubs and I know he thinks that to some extent he'll miss the passion they bring to the competition. I'm just looking forward to seeing where his route takes him and wondering if it will coincide with the route that Fulham take.

A quick one while I'm away

A couple of snippets that have been widely reported across various Fulham sites over the last two days but I wanted to include so that I have a bookmark for them!

First another humourous interview with Moritz Volz, in the Times, about the problems over who controls the stereo in the dressing room before games. Further proof that he is indeed the new Simon Morgan. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/fulham/article2563193.ece?EMC-Bltn

Then an excellent interview with Lawrie Sanchez, originally from the Independant. http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2007/October/SanchezIndependent.aspx

Reserve team goalkeeper Corrin Brookes-Meade has gone on a one month emergency loan deal to Darlington. Corrin has been pretty much an ever present for the reserves over the last couple of seasons, so this is a great opportunity for him to test his skills out in a competative league.

Also a reminder that the Reserves play Ch*ls** tonight at Motspur Park. Kick-off is 7:00. I was planning on going but now hope to make it down to Camberly for their F.A. Cup 2nd Qualifying Round replay against Dartford, for reasons that will hopefully be more fully explained tomorrow.

Reserves lose to Arsenal & Villa - Mystery trialist.

Due to the Carling Cup match this game was rearranged from Tuesday to Thursday and I was unable to attend. We lost 2-1 to an impressive Arsenal side. There's a decent report on the Offal here which shows that new signings Adrian Leijer and Nathan Ashton both played alongside more established reserve players such as Adam Watts and Wayne Brown. Interesting to see Michael Timlin get a run out as well and the introduction of "A Trialist" on the hour mark. I assumed that was Daniel Ljuboja.

There's also a decent report on the Arsenal site here with some nice pictures at the bottom. They suggest the trialist was Andre Martins of which Wikipedia has this to say "a Portuguese footballer (born 26th March 1987), he is 1.80m tall and plays as a second striker/playmaker. At the youth level, Martins played 208 games and scored 266 goals. He was spotted by Bayern Munich and called for a trial in April 2007 but contractual difficulties - now resolved - stopped any possible transfer. Martins is now a free agent and will be in the UK during the summer transfer window where several clubs have expressed an interest in his talents. In July 2007 he scored the only goal of the game in a trial match for Dundee and is currently training with Doncaster Rovers".

The reserves played their second match at Aston Villa last night and were thumped 4-1. A report from the Villa site here and from the Offal here. The Villa side did feature Marlon Harewood but was otherwise young pros much like our own side. Our goal came on 66 minutes, Wayne Brown involved again, as his powerful shot was partially saved only for Adam Watts to scramble home the rebound.

Captain America

Brian McBride was officially named as Club Captain yesterday. I have no complaints about that, Brian has been a real trooper since he joined us and certainly leads by example. The use of the term Club Captain however suggests Lawrie will not have any compunction to start with McBride if he doesn't want to which I reckon shows that LS believes he has a lot of natural leaders throughout the team.

One of those natural leaders is Aaron Hughes, and it also emerged that he picked up an injury in the QPR friendly that could keep him out for around six weeks. That's a bad thing. With no obvious sign that we're any closer to signing that elusive "experienced" centre back a lot of weight was on Hughes' shoulders to ensure he led the back line. Without him we're basically back to the same players that failed Chris Coleman last year. I don't mean that unduly harshly as I still rate a lot of those players, but as a unit they definitely failed to perform. My money's on Zat and Boca starting, but both Pearcey and Christanval made an appearance (if only on the bench) at QPR so may still be in the running.

No official confirmation from Fulham that we have signed Leijer the 21 year old Aussie centre back. It was mentioned on TFI that he was at Motspur Park yesterday afternoon for the medical so we should hear something today.

Finally the Reserves took on Aldershot in their final friendly on Tuesday night. Yet again this match was shrouded in mystery as far as the Fulham website was concerned but the Shots site says they "rounded off their pre-season preparations with a 1-1 draw against a strong Fulham side at the Recreation Ground. Lewis Chalmers gave The Shots an early lead but it was cancelled out a short time later when the Cottagers equalised from a spot kick". So there you go. I really don't understand why Fulham have refused to advertise the reserve fixtures or provide any news off the players involved or how they got on. I can't believe it's a football decision and am left to assume it's just another symptom of the shoddy website management.

Touch Sensitive

First of all here's a link to the Guardian's Premiership preview for Fulham, which I think is a pretty fair assessment of our chances. If you can be bothered to read it all there's an irksome Plod fan getting shirty in the comments.

The reserves managed a very respectable 2-1 win over Staines Town last night. Michael Timlin scored the first with a cracking volley, Goncalves possibly got the second though there is some suggestion it may have been Wayne Brown. Staines goal was an OG scored by Adam Watts. Here are some comments (nicked shamelessly from TFI) from some people who were there;

"A decent performance overall, best player was Timlin but Lewis smith looked good despite being a substitute" - James

"Hudson-Odoi was much better than Ehui, but Lewis Smith when he came on defended from the front, ran all day and hassled and created opportunities for others and he's only 17. Second half Wayne Brown and Robert Milsom ran the midfield, but the big lumbering Watts kept getting muscled off the ball by smaller players" - The Oracle

Meanwhile the BBC report we are in negotiations to sign 21 year old Australian centre back Adrian Leijer. No me either. It seems an odd move to me with at least six centre backs on our books already. If we do need one then someone with experience and quality, someone who would walk straight into the first team, is what we require not another potential prospect.

There's also been a lot of talk in the red tops about players coming in and going out. The Sun say Reading manager Steve Coppell is preparing a £2m bid for Fulham defender Liam Rosenior (I hope we wouldn't be interested in that) and that Middlesbrough hope to beat Fulham to the signature of Sean Davis. The Daily Mirror mention that Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce is prepared to splash out £3m to sign Papa Bouba Diop (which might explain the Davis thing) and that Sunderland have signed Tottenham striker Mido for £6m (Ha ha ha ha ha ha - THAT is very good news!). The Daily Express says Sanchez is offering £1m for Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia (now there's a CB with experience and quality) and The Times say the Reds have offered possible Whites target Anthony Le Tallec to Sochaux for £2.5m. All interesting stuff but I wonder how much of it is based on fact.

Lloyd of the Rovers

The reserves played a friendly against Bromsgrove Rovers on Tuesday night, though you'd have been hard pressed to know it was on unless you searched really hard. I eventually found a match report, nestled between stories about an appeal for a missing pony and the Local History Society's exhibition in Chaddesley Corbett, on the online version of the Bromsgrove Advertiser. The report obviously skewed to the Bromsgrove perspective, suggests the reserves has the better chances of the game but having only taken one of them were held to a draw thanks to a last minute goal from Rovers hotshot Paul Lloyd. The whites fielded a fairly standard reserve side consisting of Brookes-Meade - Moncur, Briggs, Omozusi, Watts - Milsom, Anderson, Sanders, Goncalves - Hudson-Odi, Ehui. Ishmeal Ehui scoring from close range three minutes before half time.

I may well check back with the Advertiser to bring you an update on the pony situation.

Reserves Friendly: Lewes 1 - FFC XI 0

Its late and I really should be in bed by now but here I am trying to find out the result of the reserves friendly. Its clearly a low profile fixture as Fulham haven't even mentioned it on the Offal, and even if they had that appears to be down ... again. Never mind, I know some guys from TFI have gone so there will probably be an update on there by tomorrow.

UPDATE: Final score was 1-0 to Lewes. Bexhill Beast from TFI went and had this to say "1-0 to Lewes - poor game overall and if anything Lewes looked more like the Premiership outfit. Mostly younger players though - apart from Runstrom up front who was appalling! Watts best player overall, though Goncalves shone in first half - rather temperamental though, like watching Ronaldo!". It was also noted that ex-youth player Tom Davis played for Lewes, who also have Junior Lewis (Lewis of Lewes!?) on their books and have just employed Justin Skinner as their number 2.

Here's a YouTube video of Roy O'Donovan, an Irish striker we're apparently trying to sign up. Cork City have confirmed they have received two bids, allegedly us and Southend United, for the 21 year old hotshot.

Reserve Fixtures

The reserve teams fixtures have just been published on the Offal. They kick off, like the 1st team, with a match against Arsenal. The reserves are at home though. Its scheduled to be played at Motspur Park but with the possibility of it being Jimmy Bullard's first match after his long-term injury and the fact that the kids will still be on their summer holidays maybe the club will consider moving it to a bigger venue. I went to MP for the Arsenal game at the end of last season and fancy going. Junior Chop the Elder is a Gooner and would love to see them beat us again, Junior Chop the Younger is so far untainted by a chosen team but would love to join his big brother for a late night out. We'll see.

The reserves also have some friendlies scheduled. They don't seem to be listed on the Offal yet so I asked on T-F-I and found the following games arranged so far.

18th July AWAY vs Lewes F.C.
1st August AWAY vs Staines Town
7th August AWAY vs Aldershot Town

There could be more to come. Lewes would be worth a trip, if only to see their famous Dripping Pan ground, but I think I'm going to miss out on that. Will probably head along to Staines Town though as it is just round the corner from Chronicle H.Q.

Reserves 0 Arsenal 1 - Tuesday 10th April

Its the Easter holiday so this was a nice opportunity to go and see the reserves in action and forget about the troubles of the Premiership. My eldest son Ben is "currently" an Arsenal supporter, he's only six so I let him off in the faint hope that he might eventually see the light. Actually the idea that he might eventually abandon Arsenal in favour of the Whites took a bit of a knock when I asked him about why he supported Arsenal and he told me it wasn't because they play in red (his original reason) but because they play good football ... "ah, right son. This is going to be it for life isn't it?". Anyway, I'd never been to a reserves match at Motspur Park and it was a lovely warm evening, with a decent crowd, quite a few of whom were also Arsenal fans.

Fulham featured Claus Jensen, Clint Dempsey and Bjorn Runstrom alongside some established younger players, Arsenal had Mart Poom in goal, Justin Hoyte and Johann Djourou alongside the "new Cesc Fabregras" Francisco Merida Perez. Arsenal played much like their first team, plenty of attractive and tidy football, but fairly toothless in attack. They missed three golden chances to score before Djourou eventually bundled in a scrappy winner on 75 minutes. Fulham had much the better of the game, but failed to score partly down to a lack of sharpness up front, but also some heroic goalkeeping from Mart Poom.

Claus pretty much ran the show, and was ably assisted by Chris James and Wayne Brown, both of who really worked their socks off. James in particular impressed me, getting forward to support the strikers and really driving the team on. Compared to Claus, Dempsey was a disappointment. He clearly needs a lot more match practice, but even so I would have expected him to make more of an impact at this level. He needs some time to adapt, and I'm sure he has a lot more to offer, but right now I would be picking Jensen ahead of him for the first team. Runstrom also did well, he looked pacey and had good feet, if his finishing had been a bit sharper I think we'd have seen a different result. Omozusi looked very solid at centre back, and marshaled the defence well, who as a unit coped comfortably with most things Arsenal threw at them. All in all a good night for £3, and I might even come back for the last game of the season against the Chavs. There's some pictures below that prove pretty conclusively that I am no Ken Cotton.

Chris James attempts to find touch. Hang on ... is that the right game?

There's a ball around here somewhere.

Incoming!