An all-too-predictable comfortable 2-0 home defeat by runaway league leaders Fulham darkened the mood around Loftus Road still further on Saturday, with QPR slipping further out of the promotion picture with each passing game.

There are 24 places, 54 points and a goal difference of 108 between Peterborough United and Fulham in this season’s Championship. Could a team that has had three swings at the former and embarrassed itself each time now go out and beat the latter regardless? A fortnight ago you’d have struggled to find a Queens Park Rangers fan confident they’d ever win a game again, such was the shambolic nature of their collapse at home to the division’s whipping boys, let alone one against their neighbours from the other side of Hammersmith Broadway whose league title win and return to the top tier is now an absolute formality. But as much-needed international break 4/4 drew to a close and London dawned bright and breezy for a rare Saturday 15.00 date at Loftus Road, you just began to wonder. Stranger things have happened, or so they say. The bookies gave Rangers one chance in six.

Then the game started. And, look, we’re going to talk a little bit about the refereeing at some point because Rangers had reasonable cause to feel aggrieved with several things and from the moment Fulham responded to the non-award of a corner in the third minute as some sort of war crime Gavin Ward’s primary objective for the afternoon seemed to be trying not to get shouted at by Aleksander Mitrovic, which isn’t really what we’re going for in standards of officialdom I shouldn’t have thought.

We’ll mention at this point a sliding doors moment in first half stoppage time where George Thomas, QPR’s best player on the day of his second league start this term, ran in behind onto an improvised through ball by Lyndon Dykes and smashed a volley straight at Marek Rodak that could easily have equalised a few feet either side of the keeper and changed the whole mood and complexion of the game.

You could say Rangers could scarcely have been worse than the Peterborough debacle, and you’d be exactly right, but it would be mean not to acknowledge their improvement across the board here. The team selection raised eyebrows, particularly the decision to drop Jimmy Dunne to get Yoann Barbet back in rather than the hapless Dion Sanderson, but Warbs Warburton explained the logic behind it clearly and coherently and the introduction of Thomas and Luke Amos behind the finally fit again Dykes did at least add some legs and energy to a flagging midfield. I came out of the Peterborough game shaking my head and listing the things I didn’t understand, and I didn’t think they did a particularly good job of explaining it to us afterwards, but I got all of this and was excited to be a part of it.

But, we have to be honest here, the key thing was the quality of the opponent. I came away from last months’ defeat at The City Ground reasonably sanguine because sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and credit a superior opponent, and if you thought Nottingham Forest were good then cop a feel of this lot. Mitrovic, when he’s not charging towards the referee to scream in his face, is the headline act and added another two goals to take his ridiculous season total to 37, fast closing in on Guy Whittingham’s record of 42. But if you take away all of them Fulham would still be the second top scorers in this division behind only second placed Bournemouth. Two others — Neeskens Kebano and Harry Wilson — have outscored QPR’s three joint top-scores Andre Gray, Ilias Chair and Lyndon Dykes. Fabio Carvalho, playing behind Mitrovic in a 4-2-3-1 set up, looks outrageously good for a boy of just 19. Tom Cairney doesn’t get the headlines he used to at this level but looked an absolute cut above every other midfielder on the pitch further back. Down the right side of the defence Liverpool’s Neco Williams looks like he’s going big places (again, only 20 years old) and centre backs Tosin Adarabioyo is built like a fucking Anglican Cathedral.

With their resources and this team on the field the disappointing thing wasn’t that QPR lost reasonably comfortably to them, as they surely should on paper, but that this Fulham team has twice gone to the Premier League and failed miserably in recent years and could well do so again next year. Last time, albeit under the more miserable management of Scott Parker, they won just five times and scored nine goals at home all season long. QPR, presumably, aspire to getting back into the top flight in reasonably short order and if this Fulham team can’t cope with it up there what hope the rest of us? I’d crawl all the way to Craven Cottage on my hands and knees to shake hands with the last barman who served Antonee Robinson a drink and their LFW equivalent has him down as their weak link. I’m not going to spend all night noshing them off, because with QPR now on a run of just two victories in 19 meetings since the fixture was rekindled in 1999/00 and the Tarquins’ “it’s happened again” chant still ringing in our ears from the end of the match nobody needs that in their life. But, to a certain extent, I did come away wondering exactly what else we could have done. Even in victory it felt like they had another couple of gears they could have happily gone through if required.

Let’s rattle through the play-by-play for a bit then, all got homes to go to. George Thomas went first for Rangers, firing into the side net off a tight angle on seven minutes when exactly the sort of high midfield press we’ve chronically lacked in recent weeks caught Cairney in possession. Mitrovic had, as we said, already produced the overreaction of all overreactions to his third minute shot wide not being given as a corner when Joe Bryan cracked in a loosener from down town and Kieren Westwood improvised a save.

The opening goal, on the quarter hour, was lush. Watch it back and admire the movement off the ball as first Cairney angles a left-footed ball into the right channel for Carvalho to tempt Sanderson out of the area, then continues his run towards the area to receive a pass back on the edge of the box which he then immediately knocks back into the path of Carvalho who has also maintained his movement to shed the marker and from there he cut back a low cross which Mitrovic slammed in from four yards out. I’m torn. Should Cairney have been tracked better from midfield? Could Sanderson have done more to impede Carvalho out wide? Is Rob Dickie asleep at the wheel while marking the division’s most dangerous marksman for the second time this season? Possibly. It might just be a brilliant goal though.

QPR threatened sporadically, but struggled to force a serious save from Rodak. Sanderson’s speculator fumbled on the half hour about as exciting as it got until Thomas’ chance in stoppage time. More often than that Rangers attacks actually just set up lethal counters back down the field as the front four of Mitrovic, Wilson, Carvalho and Reid ran amok in the sunshine. Moses Odubajo’s enterprising foray on 26 actually just left space in behind for Carvalho to run into and hit a shot wickedly deflected by Sanderson over Westwood, off the inside of the post, down onto the line, and away by Sam Field. Westwood’s save soon after that to deny Reid one on one after Cairney had again carved the home team apart was fairly brilliant. Wilson was fractionally wide of the top corner from the edge of the box with the first attack of the second half.

Chino Warbs’ post-match Warbleton did, once again, raise the standard of refereeing. Fulham didn’t need a leg up in this game, but got one a quarter of an hour from the end when Lee Wallace was very harshly adjudged to have handled in the area as a cross hit him from close range with his elbow in what was deemed an unnatural position by the referee — not, though, the linesman looking straight at it. I’d have wanted it at the other end to be honest with you, but it was debatable and stung a little when Mitrovic calmly slotted in the second goal from the spot to kill the contest just as Rangers had chucked Charlie Austin on and gone to two up front.

I was more troubled by some of the other decisions and game management. I’ve praised the way Fulham played their football, not only the best team in the league by a distance but the best team this division has seen for several seasons for my money, but the genuine, died-in-the-wool, old-school Fulham fans can’t possibly like or approve of the way they behave with the match officials. Dion Sanderson’s well executed last-ditch tackle on Cairney two minutes after half time brought another huge song and dance routine, Harry Wilson’s hideous dive in the penalty box on 65 minutes should surely have yielded a yellow card. In the end the only person that was booked for dissent was Lee Wallace, obviously pulled back and prevented from getting on the end of an attacking one-two on 51 minutes and rightly furious when Ward somehow waved play-on. Not a difficult decision to get right, Wallace immediately penalised himself with a booking and a free kick for grabbing the referee by the arm which you obviously cannot do — but, then, I didn’t think you were allowed to charge 20 yards across the field to scream in the referee’s face either?

QPR, as we’ve said before, waaaaay too nice at times. When Harrison Reed decided he fancied a little sit down five minutes from the end the time wasting was so egregious even Ward was in favour of playing on until Rodak threw the ball out to force the issue — under duress from four Fulham players Lee Wallace threw them the ball back after the “treatment” when we should have been doing nothing of the sort. I was actually quite glad to see John Eustace getting involved in stoppage time when one of the Fulham coaching staff started doing keep-ups with the ball in the technical area instead of returning it for the QPR throw (to be fair to him, brilliant touch). Eustace wasn’t having it, but actually seemed to mistake the fourth official (Carl Boyeson, who you may remember for a farcical performance away at Barnsley in the Adel Taarabt game ten years ago) for one of the visiting coaches and pushed him down the touchline which is always going to be a red card. Warburton got a yellow for good measure, but the guy who’d actually caused the whole thing wasn’t even spoken to. Ward about as useful as a marzipan dildo, and a good deal smaller than you’d ideally like one of those too.

Not the reason we lost though. There were some scraps of positive to take away — Sanderson was better, Barbet I thought played reasonably well on his return and had the diags going a treat in the second half, Amos and Thomas were far better than a lot of people who’ve played their roles recently and did at least play with energy on the front foot, Moses was rocks and diamonds again but I like the jewels when they do come along. Goal threat, however, was once again minimal. QPR are barely averaging two shots on target a game at the moment, while facing almost six themselves. Stefan Johansen’s stock continues to tank, and he blotted his copy book walking off when subbed and milking the applause from his old employers a bit when Rangers were trailing and ideally would have liked him to get a move on and stop wasting our own time — injured, again, perhaps, as mitigation, but even so, exit the field at the nearest point in that case.

The disappointment, ultimately, for me wasn’t losing this one, it’s that this level of performance would have added ten points to our total had we been able to produce it against Peterborough, Cardiff, Hull and Barnsley. That’s where this season has unravelled, not in games like this, which made post-match reports from that bastion of truth and accuracy The Daily Mail that QPR had chosen this point to sack their manager especially difficult to fathom. They hadn't, haven't, and shouldn't.

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QPR: Westwood 6; Odubajo 6, Sanderson 6, Dickie 6, Barbet 6, Wallace 6; Johansen 5 (Chair 70, 6), Field 6, Amos 6 (Dozzell 79, 5); Thomas 7 (Austin 73, 5), Dykes 5

Subs not used: McCallum, Dunne, Hendrick, Mahoney

Bookings: Wallace 51 (dissent), Barbet 76 (foul), Field 90+1 (foul)

Fulham: Rodak 6; Williams 7, Tosin 7, Ream 6, Bryan 6; Reed 7 (Seri 87, -), Cairney 8 (Chalobah 75, 6); Wilson 7, Carvalho 8, Reid 7 (Kebano 79, 6); Mitrovic 8

Subs not used: Tete, Hector, Muniz, Gazzaniga

Goals: Mitrovic 14 (assisted Carvalho), 78 (penalty, handball)

QPR Star Man — George Thomas 7 Played with purpose, energy and pace, on the front foot at all times. Lots of things we’ve been sadly lacking in recent weeks.

Referee — Gavin Ward (Surrey) 5 God the standard of refereeing in this league is abysmal. Given that he’s been given this match, a local derby between two supposed promotion contenders at the business end of the season, it’s pretty safe to assume that the PGMOL view him as one of their best at this level at the moment, possibly one of the ones they’re considering for promotion and, well, just look at the absolute state of it.

Attendance — 18,000 approx (3,000 Fulham approx.) No official attendance figures available, which isn’t that unusual this season for some reason.

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Spiritof67 added 21:10 - Apr 3 Gavin Ward Stats. Two QPR games in charge this season. QPR 1 Red, 6 Yellows and one penalty awarded to the opposition - Opponents 3 Yellows But it still doesn’t take away the fact that the Fulham keeper probably had the easiest second half he has had all season.
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062259 added 21:15 - Apr 3 It's over. It's been over for quite some time. Warburton knows it, he's probably known it for a while, but he can't say it. In his interviews he spent more time bemoaning the penalty and previous refereeing decisions than anything else, a sure sign of a manager trying to steer the conversation away from the elephant in the room. The benching of Chair and Dunne is unfathomable. The question now is whether the team can even better last season's 68 points and 9th. It's looking more and more unlikely, and that would be a bitter pill after almost three-quarters of a season of locked-in playoff form.

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NewYorkRanger added 21:29 - Apr 3 I see a lot of anger and rage on Twitter regarding this team and I have to say the atmosphere in the lower loft yesterday was far more aggressive than at any other time I've seen it this season. Not sure exactly why that should be. Is it because we were looking pretty good for the play offs until recently and have obviously bombed over recent months? Is it because it's Fulham? Is it because both Mitrovic and Carvalho gave it large to the home fans after going one up? (can't realluy blame them - and we love it when it's the other way round) Or is it because we think we belong in the prem? Or something else? I'm genuinely perplexed but it was a noticeably less pleasant afternoon atmosphere wise yesterday than I've seen previously this season and I include the Cardiff, Bristol City and Bournemouth defeats in that. What do people actually want or expect? Do you really want QPR in the prem at this stage? It would be painful and embarrassing and not at all enjoyable. I thought the team put in a good shift but was outplayed by a far superior team on the day. Judging by some around me yesterday though you'd think we'd been cheated out of our divine rights and/or our own players were lazy sh*tes and deserved to be hanged. I'd been enjoying getting back into it this season after a few years away, defeats an all. Yesterday, not so much. But I thought the team put in a good effort

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Paddyhoops added 21:46 - Apr 3 If we got that peno regardless of my blue and white hooped spectacles, I would have thought we got lucky there. In fairness though we could have all gone down the pub after five minutes. They were man for man streets ahead of us apart from possibly Tim Ream. ( persist with him and Fulham will go straight back down) Seems a bit of a mystery that we haven't used George Thomas more frequently this season. Decent player. Moses was outstanding again and a word for Westwood who was rock solid again. As for Johansson. Time and a place for applauding rival fans . 2.0 down in a local derby isn't one of them. Sad to say he looks a busted flush!!

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ParkRoyalR added 22:08 - Apr 3 Moses' energy showed what we are lacking on the left now when Wallace plays, especially after the first 45. Don't like to comment on ratings because as fans we all have our favourites but Dykes created our only 2 real goal scoring chances (for Thomas + Austin) so to earn a 5 and same as Austin for another completely anonymous cameo seems a little harsh.
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Myke added 22:16 - Apr 3 Cheers Clive, love the title. Did you have it on standby when you wrote the title of the preview - or a moment of inspiration? These are the kind of quintessential routine victories that a superior team secures over an inferior one, without breaking a major sweat. Sadly, we have failed to secure a single routine victory all season. We have had some superb wins (Middlesboro away and Reading at home the standouts for me) but most of the others have been ground out and it seems that the physical and emotional toll of such effort has proved too much in recent months (yes I am afraid it has extended from 'games' to 'weeks' and now to months). On we go and let's try to snap this depressing run.

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HamptonR added 23:32 - Apr 3 They hadn't, haven't, and shouldn't. Spot on.
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stainrods_elbow added 00:17 - Apr 4 While I agree with the basic tenor of the report, in terms of what more we could have done - well, a shot or two on goal would have been a start. The one or two we imagined was embarrassing. It's quite hard to score goals without them, however much 'on the front foot' you aspire to be. The truth is, in that 2nd half, we played like a beaten side and were chasing shadows. Warburton knows it, but can't say it - but I/we can.

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Tomo_5 added 03:25 - Apr 4 My mate is a Chelsea fan and we often talk about rangers because I can't talk about Chelsea. He remarked before Christmas that Rangers were doing well and I remarked back that yes, we are doing well for the squad we have. To be honest a lot of the games we won we could have easily lost as well. To speak about being promoted even after these last few months of poor results you would say that there aren't that many players that we would keep should we indeed get promoted. Field, Amos, Barbet, Dieng and Willock perhaps... I like Chair but for me he loses the ball far too often - add a few savvy premiership right backs and he will barely touch the ball. Ok, the ref was well and truly having a terrible game, but for Warbs to moan so much about his poor decisions tells the real story 'as Clive rightly pointed out' that he is feeling the pressure. Stef is well and truly past his best and adds little now. Let's remember that we've got a terrible budget and we're building. Let's just hope our scouts unearth plenty more Sam Field's and let's do away with loaning out of sorts premiership boys who do nothing for our building process..

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Northernr added 06:42 - Apr 4 Myke - Thought it was a pretty safe bet in advance that if I used that headline for the preview I could just do the line after it for the report.
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stneotsbloke added 07:44 - Apr 4 As all other posts say, there's no real shame in being beaten by a clearly better team. Fulham pass the ball forward with speed and precision, we pass sideways and backwards and painfully slowly. Despite only being one goal up, Fulham were cruising and whilst we we technically still in the game with a shout it was hard to see where a goal was going to come from. It was a very harsh pen but, as someone else said, we'd have been ranting if we'd been denied a pen in that situation. Warbs's rant was understandable but what went on in the previous 80 minutes cost us the game. The biggest disappointment for me is the remarkable downturn of Johannson. He's a shadow of his former self. It grieves me to say it but Charlie is a complete nonentity. Way past his best, it's quite sad to watch him trying to run these days. Absolutely no point is sacking Warbs. Whether he, and the board, can recover the situation next season remains to be seen. I hope so as I for one still hold him in high regard. Will we beat last seasons total of 68 points, on recent form it looks unlikely but, hey, lets try and retain a bit of positivity.

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PinnerPaul added 09:28 - Apr 4 Reed - the midfielder - the unsung hero for them, picks up every second ball, rarely misses a pass, available all the time, despite our plethora of midfielders, no one we have does that. Referee - surprised, I thought you might go mad at the pen, I saw it as you did, Mrs Pinner, pretty sensible! ;-) thought it wasn't. Agree about Fulham coach should have been yellow carded but MW's defence of Eustace is laughable - he didn't realise the bloke standing there for 90 mins dressed as all other 4th officials have been all season was the erm....4th official?! and even if that were the case its Ok to push someone else then is it? To add to the stupidity he then said he was fine with the keepy uppies, "All part of the game"! Only needs 5 words to sum it all up - beaten by the better team.

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Rangers67 added 09:34 - Apr 4 Very good report as usual Clive. Said a lot of what I said in the forum but more eloquently. For an official to allow himself to be verbally and physically intimidated like Mitrovic did early on is nothing short of a disgrace. As soon as that happened we all new he was going to favour Fulham every chance he got. His waiting for Fulham to tell him it was a penalty was embarressing to him and referees in general. His failure to book the player for the blatant dive in the second half just as bad. I agree that Fulham were a different class to us and were going to win anyway but all you ask for as a fan of any sport is a level playing field which far to often we are not getting. I think a lot of these officials are weak individuals who are to easily intimidated by players and managers. This unfortunatley has crept into the game a lot and I wish it hadn,t but we as a team need to seriously get onside with with this and appoint 2 or 3 players to continually pester the officials as other teams do until the time comes when the authorities get their act together and say that only the captain can speak to the referee. Not going to happen though.

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Red_Ranger added 09:57 - Apr 4 Good, accurate and amusing review as usual. Thanks again. Yes GT played very well and have said that he deserves a start and game time, for me, Field worked his socks off and deserves a bit more praise and points for his performance.
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Marshy67 added 10:45 - Apr 4 And as we succumb to Fulham, in SW6 the "bus stop in Hounslow" smashed Chelsea on their own patch! How times have changed. Both Fulham and the Bees have spent time in the 4th tier. Rangers never have. Only three seasons since 67-68 spent outside the top two divisions . Let's see what next season brings! Rangers never have. Only three seasons since 67-68 spent outside the top two divisions . Let's see what next season brings!

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Burnleyhoop added 11:26 - Apr 4 Didn’t have a problem with the effort or general performance of the team as Fulham are simply on another level, with no obvious weak areas. The centre half Tosin is a monster and won absolutely everything. I really don’t think they will struggle next season in the premiership. What the performance did provide for me is a bit of confidence for the remainder of the season. Sheffield Utd were beaten by a very average Stoke team on Saturday and Huddersfield scraped past Hull. If we can pull ourselves together and find a bit of spirit and determination, we could yet make a late push. Tomorrow night is hugely important. We have to dig deep and find the belief that has slowly ebbed away. It is definitely now or never

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Marshy added 11:50 - Apr 4 The difference between the two teams is that Fulham score goals for fun, whilst of late we rarely look capable of scoring at all. Charlie Austin looks absolutely spent. I'm beginning to think of Matt Smith when I see him try to run. Dykes and Gray being the other 2 strikers hardly fills me with much confidence. Then again you have to service your strikers, but a lack of inventiveness in midfield hardly helps the situation. In your summary of George Thomas being our Star Man Clive, you said he played with purpose, energy and pace, which is spot on. Sadly that has been lacking throughout the team for sometime now. This is something that needs to be addressed urgently by the coaching and fitness staff.

1

onlyrinmoray added 11:50 - Apr 4 I couldn’t face sitting by the computer listening to the inevitable defeat So when I had the offer of seeing Ross County Hearts I took it Good game by the way I avoided the score till coming out of the game I am resigned to us drifting away to mid table Realistically we havent been good enough this season to go up With our resources we would have spent the the season losing ….Sheffield Utd next oh dear don’t fancy that another defeat but I will be back listening

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johngdavis added 14:21 - Apr 4 See nothing about Luke Amos but he is improving very quickly and at times looked a class act. He showed pace going forward, has vision and can pinch the ball high up the field. If his injury is behind him and he has the confidence to keep committing a team can be built around him.
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BigWilly added 14:28 - Apr 4 Excellent report, as ever Clive. Frankly, I'm astonished at the calls for Warbs to go. He's the best manager we've had since El Tel in my opinion, and that includes Uncle Neil, who I think got lucky. What seems to have happened is, quite simply, we've choked, as many others have done before us. Freewheeling and fearless when nothing's at stake, then when the cruch comes, the team couldn't handle the pressure of expectation - as have many before us, just look at how many times it happened to Brentford. If Warbs has a weakness, it's that he doesn't yet know how to handle the choking either, because I doubt he's ever come across it (maybe at Rangers?) - but he and the team will learn, and be better for it. In any event, we are not in any way ready for the Premiership, and promotion would be great and followed by a totally miserable season before immediately coming back down. I was speaking with my good mate Ian from Burnley - you've met him a few times before - and we both agreed that desperately looking to scrape a few points each season just to stay up is no fun at all. I hate to say it, but we probably need to follow the way the 'Bus Stop in Hounslow' have done it. And finally - clipping a lyric from 'American Pie' is genius......

2

nightwish added 14:40 - Apr 4 Throughout the history of football, attendences were always printed in papers and announced.Since covid it is one of the mysteries of modern day football just why clubs attendences arent made public like they were
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francisbowles added 15:12 - Apr 4 Calm and rational analysis as usual Clive. Completely agree with this 'When Harrison Reed decided he fancied a little sit down five minutes from the end the time wasting was so egregious even Ward was in favour of playing on until Rodak threw the ball out to force the issue – under duress from four Fulham players Lee Wallace threw them the ball back after the “treatment” when we should have been doing nothing of the sort' In fact from my seat it looked as if Chair was telling him to give it back. If the ref doesn't stop the game and they throw it out and then make a substitution, why on earth should we give it back?

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Northernr added 16:44 - Apr 4 We lack an edge in those situations mate. Millwall away we wanted the play stopped for a Johansen injury, referee said no, Millwall played on, then when we did kick the ball out they kept it. Few minutes later Millwall player goes down injured, demand the game is stopped, and it is, to very minimal complaint from us. We get bullied like that too easily.
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thehat added 16:55 - Apr 4 Spot on report Clive - No complaints Fulham were better all over the pitch. Let's keep our heads regroup in the summer (with Warbs) move some players on and hope our scouting team have a few unpolished diamonds to bring in. Whilst the wheels have come of I have had some great away days this season Reading, Bristol City, Birmingham and Coventry.........This club has craved stability for years and we now have it lets be careful not to throw that away.

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