Shaun Goater blasted a hat-trick to send Manchester City back to second place
in the First Division as Fulham were torn apart after being reduced to 10 men.
Chris Coleman was sent off in the 68th minute and City took full advantage,
grabbing three goals in a devastating 11-minute spell.
It was another savage blow for Fulham to absorb in a matter of days, having
lost out in the Worthington Cup quarter-finals a Leicester in a penalty
shoot-out.
Now their hopes to gate-crashing the promotion race have been savaged by a
determined City, who were flattered by the scoreline.
But Joe Royle's boys needed this victory to re-establish their promotion
credentials, after losing top spot in midweek. They had led the table for all
but 12 days in the previous 11 weeks before Charlton took over.
Goater, who now has now scored 18 goals this season, was in fine form and
punished the Londoners.
Both City and Fulham were fresh from cup disasters against Premier League
sides, and even more determined to becoming part of the top flight party next
season.
It was tight, tense, full of errors and few chances. Fulham, playing five at
the back, were content to hit on the break.
But what chances there were fell to City. Robert Taylor created one for Goater
after 11 minutes with a flick in the box, but Maik Taylor dived bravely at the
City striker's feet.
A minute later Mark Kennedy, fleetingly on the right for a change, cut in and
fired a shot that was spilled by the Fulham keeper and hacked away by Coleman.
But it was a case of frustration for City as they probed for openings and made
little progress while Fulham were lively and dangerous on the break.
Kennedy was booked after 24 minutes for angrily kicking the ball into the
hordings after a marginal offside. Seconds later referee Paul Danson opted to
warn rather than caution Wayne Collins for what looked a bad foul on Grant,
dissent seemingly being more of a crime in his eyes!
Danson also looked to have missed a good penalty appeal by Fulham when Richard
Edghill clattered into Paul Peschisolido as the two contested a ball that was
sailing over their heads, probably the only reason that saved Edghill from being
penalised.
City made things difficult for themselves with some shaky defending and
Kennedy almost committed a terrible clanger by opting to try to dribble from his
own box before being caught in possession.
The ball was passed to Nicky Weaver, who fluffed a clearance and had to plunge at
Peschisolido's feet to save the situation.
But after 39 minutes City broke the deadlock. Robert Taylor's long crossfield
ball was reached first by Edghill, and his instant cross was sidefooted home by
Goater from 12 yards.
Rufus Brevett, who had contested the ball with Edghill, was helped off with a
recurrence of a hamstring injury before the re-start.
There had been little convincing at this stage about City, who were troubled
by Geoff Horsfield's strength and Peschisolido's livewire pace and mobility.
And on the hour Fulham boss Paul Bracewell took off a defender, former City
skipper Kit Symons, and sent on an extra striker in Karlheinz Riedle to put even
more pressure on the home defence.
And they had City under intense pressure when the game's controversial moment
arrived. Ian Bishop, then Grant, swiftly switched the ball from their own box to
the galloping Goater who was clear on the right.
Coleman raced across to cut off his charge, and right on the edge of the box,
slid in and handled the ball as he fell. Referee Danson obviously considered
this was denying a goalscoring opportunity, and pulled out the red card to
Fulham and Coleman's horror.
Having taken off a defender, and then to lose another disrupted Fulham's team
plan at that stage, and after 77 minutes City scored again.
A Kevin Horlock free-kick soared into the box, Danny Granville's challenge
caused confusion and there was Goater to flick the ball over his head and into
the net.
It was all City now and Goater completed his hat-trick after 85 minutes when
he nodded home after Taylor had saved a Richard Jobson header with his foot,
City's big hit man being first to the ball to head in.
Three minutes later Bishop's ball put substitute Danny Tiatto clear, and when
he was pulled down by Steve Finnan, Horlock stepped up to lash home the
penalty.
Teams
Man City: Weaver, Edghill, Wiekens, Jobson, Granville, Grant,
Bishop, Horlock, Kennedy (Tiatto 75), Taylor, Goater.
Subs Not Used: Crooks, Dickov, Pollock, Wright.
Booked: Kennedy.
Goals: Goater 29, 77, 85, Horlock 87 pen.
Fulham: Taylor, Finnan, Symons (Riedle 63), Melville, Coleman,
Brevett (Trollope 31), Collins, Ball, Clark, Horsfield, Peschisolido.
Subs Not Used: Hahnemann, Morgan, Hayward.
Sent Off: Coleman (68).
Booked: Horsfield, Riedle, Finnan.
Att: 30,057
Ref: P Danson (Leicester).
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