Loading...EPL Result: Fulham 3-3 Man City: Thriller at the Cottage
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Fighting Fulham came back to snatch a 3-3 draw in yet another Craven Cottage six-goal thriller which left Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson fuming about his team's defensive lapses.
The last time Eriksson tangled with Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez was two years ago when the Swede was England boss and his rival was manager of Northern Ireland, for whom he engineered a shock 1-0 victory in Belfast.
David Healy was one of four Fulham players in that Irish line-up, but he was not on target against City, whose winning chance finally disappeared with debut-making substitute Danny Murphy's 74th-minute equaliser for the hosts.
Fulham had twice led but then slipped 3-2 behind after the second of two goals by Martin Petrov.
The Bulgarian benefited from slipshod goalkeeping by Antti Niemi and also the generosity of referee Mark Halsey, who allowed Brazilian Elano to get away with a blatant foul before setting up the goal that Petrov hoped would be the winner.
However, he reckoned without a complete lack of concentration from City defender Vedran Corluka which allowed Murphy to pounce on a low cross from the left to save a point for the home side.
Three weeks ago Fulham came back from 3-1 down to draw with Tottenham - from whom they had just bought Murphy.
It was Healy and the lively Hameur Bouazza who gave the home side the early impetus.
Richard Dunne, the City captain returning after suspension, made a superb tackle to deny Healy an early strike but let Simon Davies escape him at the near post to head in Bouazza's left-wing cross in the 13th minute.
City replied when Michael Johnson spread the ball out to the left and Petrov cut in past Chris Baird's tame challenge to fire a low shot which Niemi could only help into the net.
Two minutes after the break Fulham led again when Dunne tripped substitute Diomansy Kamara and Bouazza fired the free-kick through City's dishevelled defensive wall.
That lead lasted only a minute, as Niemi could only palm out Petrov's shot for Emile Mpenza to notch an easy header from the rebound.
Petrov seemed to have won it 11 minutes later after Elano was allowed to go through and feed him for a shot that went in between Niemi and his near post.
Fulham looked to be the victims of injustice, but then along came Murphy, who had been part of a double substitution in the 65th minute, to take advantage of Corluka nodding off and rifle home a point-saver.
The same player almost won the contest for Fulham with a long-range deflected free-kick which Kasper Schmeichel clawed away from under the bar.
In a frantic finish City substitute Geovanni was only inches too high with a stoppage-time snapshot which almost brought the visitors a winner.
But the point was enough to move them back up the table into second, while Fulham are fourth from bottom - two points clear of the relegation zone.
Source: Soccernet.com
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