Saturday, May 3, 2008

The Dream Lives On!

Fulham is a victory at Fratton Park next weekend away from completing a great escape after their 2-0 win today over Birmingham. A trademark Brian McBride diving header to finish off a fabulous in-swinging free kick from Jimmy Bullard opened the scoring for the Cottagers, and Erik Nevland sealed it late once again to account for the final scoreline. Kasey Keller continued to prove why he’s become Roy Hodgson’s first choice in goal over Antti Niemi with the clean sheet.

Their third win in four matches propelled Fulham out of the relegation zone (for now, anyway) and into 17th place, as they have a better goal differential than Reading. Both clubs have 33 points, Birmingham is in 19th with 32 points, and obviously each of these three teams have one game to go.

As previously mentioned, Fulham's game is at a Portsmouth team playing for nothing right now except to stay healthy for the FA Cup final, Birmingham hosts Blackburn in a game that has draw written all over it, and Reading will visit Derby, who will want to bow out of the Premiership with a great performance for their fans. Bolton is playing Sunderland right now, and the Trotters also have 33 points. A victory should mean safety, but a loss would make things hairy for Gary Megson's team as they aren't going to get anything against Chelsea next weekend.

There was a terrific atmosphere at Craven Cottage for Fulham's last home game of the year. Fulham has some of the best fans in the Premiership and it showed today. You can really tell how much that team means to the supporters, and you can't say the same about other fans and teams in the league.

90 minutes left for Fulham and three points would do the trick. They are playing with so much confidence right now and I really believe they're going to get the job done at Portsmouth next week.

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