Wilson's late wizardry beats Brentford
Today at 07:18 PM
After Jota and Neal Maupay in the last minute, it was Fulham’s turn to snatch the west London derby spoils in stoppage time. A trademark Aleksandar Mitrovic header in added time secured the Whites last local bragging rights over Brentford two years ago, but it was another of Marco Silva’s stalwarts who etched his name into Fulham folklore by bagging a brilliant brace in five incredible injury-time minutes. Harry Wilson’s best performances this season have come for his country but the Welsh winger produced a pair of perfect finishes to punish Thomas Frank’s side for cynically seeking to sit on the lead delivered by Vitaly Janelt’s bolt from the blue midway through the first half.
Wilson, introduced as an 82nd minute substitute as Silva sought some invention in the final third to match his side’s utter dominance, became the Fulham man to score twice against Brentford since Joe Bryan’s unlikely double settled the Championship play-off final in 2020. His first moment of magic was a fabulous flick from Adama Traore’s cross that flew over Mark Flekken and landed in the far corner of the Hammersmith End net. That set up a breathless finale where both teams went close to finding a winner before Wilson crouched to cushion a header into the same portion of the goal from Antonee Robinson’s cross. The ball actually looped in off his shoulder, but both Wilson and his side more than merited that slice of luck.
Brentford have made a habit of scoring early goals this term, but it was Fulham who made the faster start. Emile Smith Rowe found pockets of space on the edge of the box, slipping in Raul Jimenez but the in-form Mexican couldn’t muster much power behind his finish. He then gave Reiss Nelson, preferred to Traore for his first Fulham league start, the chance to run at Mads Roerslev. The Arsenal loanee raced beyond the full back only for Flekken to deny him twice at the near post.
The visitors threatened sporadically, with Robinson utilising all of his pace to ward off the threat of Bryan Mbuemo, before a brilliant move at the other end gave Smith Rowe a sight of goal only for Fulham’s record signing to be thwarted by a terrific piece of defending from Nathan Collins. Brentford’s spoiling tactics soon came to the fore. Bernd Leno was twice blocked off as he sought to throw the ball out, Roerslev feigned a head injury and Flekken took an age over a couple of goal kicks. The Hammersmith End howled their indignation but referee Stuart Attwell took a laissez faire approach.
After Leno had been bumped in the box and Attwell waved an advantage, Calvin Bassey misplaced a pass and Christian Norgaard squared the ball to Janelt 25 yards out. Fulham were slow to close the German down and the midfielder lashed a left-footed strike into the far corner to the delight of the travelling fans. Fulham could scarcely believe they were behind them, but somehow Smith Rowe spurned a superb chance to level when he failed to turn Alex Iwobi’s floated ball beyond Flekken after starting the attack by sauntering through the heart of Brentford’s midfield.
The visitors almost made it two right on half time when another Janelt effort was deflected wide by Sander Berge’s outstretched leg. That would have been a travesty, but the Whites failed to add penetration to their plentiful possession after the interval. Iwobi dragged a drive three yards wide, before Jimenez was stopped in his tracks by a superb sliding intervention from Collins as he prepared to pull the trigger having latched onto a clever pass from Nelson.
Kean Lewis-Potter then wasted a good shooting position after checking inside Robinson following a fine switch of play by Nørgaard and Brentford protected their goal diligently. They shut down the spaces in front of the penalty area, restricting the home side to hopeful efforts from outside the box by Nelson, Iwobi and Bassey which were easily fielded by Flekken. With a minute to go the Brentford goalkeeper pushed out another effort from the Nigerian centre back but dived on the rebound before Rodrigo Muniz could follow in.
By this time, the Dutch custodian had got his time wasting down to an art form. He was to regret that as Fulham completed the most astonishing of fightbacks in stoppage time. Traore, whose pace and power replaced the ineffective Andreas Pereira midway through the second half, whipped a cross to the near post where Wilson lifted a lovely equaliser over the Brentford goalkeeper and inside the far post. The green shirts suddenly poured forward with hitherto hidden ambition. Former Fulham favourite Fabio Carvalho almost silenced the boo boys with a near post finish from Roerslev's right-wing cross but Leno stuck out a leg to make a sensational save before Berge blocked Yehor Yarmoliuk’s drive behind for a corner.
Fulham flew up the other end as Attwell played more than the initially indicated six extra minutes and Robinson to the byline and cut the ball back for Wilson’s winning moment. The delirious scenes that followed were all the more poignant because the Hammersmith End lost one of its most ardent fans last week in Graham Duke, an ever-present since the days of the Thamesbank Travellers. You couldn’t escape the feeling that he was watching on with a smile on his face as Fulham’s fightback floored their near neighbours.
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete (Castagne 73), A. Robinson, Andersen, Bassey; Berge, Perreira (Traore 65); Iwobi, Nelson (Wilson 82), Smith Rowe (Cairney 82); Jimenez (Muniz 73). Subs (not used): Benda, Diop, Sessegnon, Reed.
BOOKED: Muniz, Wilson.
GOALS: Wilson (90+2, 90+7).
BRENTFORD (4-2-3-1): Flekken; Roerslev, van der Berg, Collins, Pinnock; Janelt (Yarmoliuk 90+3), Nørgaard, Damsgaard (Jensen 72); Mbeumo (Mee 86), Wissa (Schade 72), Lewis-Potter (Carvalho 72). Subs (not used): Valdimarsson, Meghoma, Konak, Maghoma.
BOOKED: Roerslev.
GOAL: Janelt (24).
REFEREE: Stuart Attwell (Nuneaton).
ATTENDANCE: 24,931
