Swansea City 0-3 Fulham | Premier League match report (original) (raw)

Allow Spotify content?

This article includes content provided by Spotify. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.

There might have been goals aplenty around the country, as there were in South Wales, but Swansea's memorable campaign finished tamely. Defeat to a fragile Fulham side who had lost five games on the spin was not the way to celebrate a ninth-place finish and the winning of the Capital One Cup, which was paraded around the stadium at the end.

That Swansea battered Fulham for most of the second half proved of no consequence. Mark Schwarzer, the Fulham goalkeeper, denied them time and again, allowing his team-mates Dimitar Berbatov and Urby Emanuelson to add to the first-half goal from Alexander Kacaniklic. However, Michael Laudrup, the Swansea manager, could still see the bigger picture.

"I have only been here for a few months but people tell me that this was our best-ever season," the Dane said. "I trust them. We created so many chances and didn't score that sooner or later we were going to be punished. We have to improve in that area next season. But it is so difficult to find goalscorers. Everyone wants them and they are so expensive."

For Martin Jol, the torment was over – a first win in eight matches and after flirting with relegation, a 12th-place finish. And on this evidence, he should spend the summer trying to retain Schwarzer. The 40-year Australian is out of contract during the summer but has turned down a new deal.

"Mark wants to be almost guaranteed the No1 spot," Jol said. "It's not easy because David Stockdale wants to be No1 as well. You can't go out and find a useless goalkeeper [to be No2]. We want a good keeper there. No, it's not definitely Mark's last game for us. We will sit down with him to try to find a solution."

Alexander Kacaniklic, left, opening the scoring for Fulham with a fierce, low shot that beat the Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images

In the 22nd minute Jol could afford a smile. Or at least, as is the Dutchman's wont, a small grin. Emmanuel Frimpong provided the ammunition and Kacaniklic drove past Michel Vorm with a fierce, low effort. Yet not that much of a boost, perhaps, with Fulham having previously squandered 23 points from winning positions this season.

Two-nil, though, would have been a boost. That it might have been 10 minutes later when Bryan Ruiz's quick free-kick caught the Swansea rearguard napping – again – and Kacaniklic strode through alone. This time Vorm managed to get a hand to the shot, tipping it on to a post and calmly collecting the rebound.

Swansea improved, with Jonathan de Guzmán testing Schwarzer from range. They maintained their momentum in the second half, with Chico Flores wasting a good opportunity to equalise. Nathan Dyer crossed from right, Pablo Hernández flicked it on but Flores' header did not carry enough power to trouble Schwarzer.

Hernández kept going, twice more bringing the best out of Schwarzer. He also spectacularly saved an angled 25-yard attempt from Leon Britton as the one-way traffic continued. Yet as so often happens, the aggressors got caught on the break. Ruiz played through a delightful pass and Berbatov evaded the poorly executed offside trap before rounding Vorm and slotting the ball into the empty net. It was his 15th league goal of a productive season.

As Swansea wilted – more through shock than the sun – they were breached again deep into stoppage time. Kacaniklic wandered through alone and this time Vorm had run out of heroics. He could only parry the ball forward and Urby Emanuelson, a substitute, tapped in. Swansea's anti-climax was complete.

Man of match Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)