Fulham 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0: match report

By Duncan White at Craven Cottage Published: 8:25AM GMT 07 Mar 2010

Stalemate: Fulham"s Bobby Zamora could not find a approach past Tottenham"s counterclaim Photo: PA

Like all great Cockney showdowns theres got to be a sequel. Roy contra Arry II entrance to a shade nearby you. Rated R. For once the got to be improved than the initial one: the behaving was wooden and the tract meandered along but unequivocally going anywhere. At slightest the soundtrack was good: there was an glorious ambience down at the Cottage.

With Tottenham perplexing to cling to on to fourth mark and Fulham still in the Europa League conjunction Harry Redknapp nor Roy Hodgson indispensable the replay but a replay is what they got. There was no necessity of pant and smoke but zero that remotely looked similar to bringing the residence down. Wembley deferred, nonetheless Spurs contingency be sensitively assured that they will swell when they encounter again on Mar 24.

Portsmouth 2 Birmingham City 0 Saturday movement Fulham 0 Everton 2: Match inform Carling Cup delight proves run out for Sir Alex Fergusons immature thoroughbreds Roy Hodgson hopes Manchester United destroy to concentration on FA Cup tie with Fulham Fulham fist by with Bobby Zamoras late set upon

Refreshingly, Hodgson refused to protest about the weight of fixtures his patrol right afar faces. "Rather than feel ourselves to be victims, we should bask in the excellence of it," Hodgson said. "It is not each deteriorate we get 60 games in a deteriorate - there are times when we hardly scratch over the 40. So lets not protest about it."

Before the diversion Hodgson and Mark Schwarzer were presented with their physical education instructor and player-of-the-month awards for February, approval of the approach this medium bar continues to punch on top of the weight. Even some-more considerable was Hodgsons cross-field lurch to get at the behind of to the sauce room for a last warning to his men and at a satisfactory old flicker over for a man in his seventh decade.

That was usually about the quickest any one changed on this balding, rough representation (they are going to lay a new one in the summer). With Jermain Defoes parsimonious hamstrings keeping him on the dais and Fulham personification Bobby Zamora alone up front, there was changed small gait in possibly attack. The outcome was that both lines of counterclaim could fist the play, withdrawal small space in a stodgy midfield. Unsurprisingly, then, chances were wanting in the initial half.

Fulham had the initial poignant bid on target, Zamora receiving value of Vedran Corlukas blunder to get a shot in at the nearby post that Heurelho Gomes saved comfortably. Without Danny Murphy, out with a groin injury, and with Jonathan Greening personification by pang after pang a at the behind of spasm, Fulham lacked quick mind and as well mostly chipped the round vaguely in Zamoras ubiquitous direction. When they attempted the belligerent route, Wilson Palacios snapped in to plunge in to after tackle. "He was measureless for us... outstanding," Redknapp said.

With Croatian span Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar, there was some-more aptitude in Tottenhams play. The latter scarcely broke Schwarzer with a dipping shot after twenty-eight mins that the Australian managed usually to resist awkwardly. Two mins after Schwarzer was called on again, removing smartly opposite idea to pull Peter Crouchs considerable header from Corlukas cranky at the behind of for a corner.

Mercifully the diversion non-stop up after the break. Seconds after the restart Fulham had their most appropriate possibility yet. Nicky Shorey played a round down the left that Simon Davies crossed to the far post where Zamora nodded at the behind of opposite goal. Zoltan Geras close-range near-post header was flailed afar by the glorious Gomes.

Roman Pavlyuchenko, in such excellent form at the moment, not out of the woods a quite groundless dive to try and win Spurs a chastisement - he should have been requisitioned - and afterwards arbitrate Mark Clattenburg unsuccessful to endowment a genuine one, blank Brede Hangelands doing of the round as he challenged Crouch in the air. Spurs had their punish though, when Kranjcar incidentally body-checked the arbitrate mins later, withdrawal him on his backside.

Damien Duff, personification on the right, twice went close for Fulham before, unbelievably, Modric managed to burst high sufficient to get in Crouchs approach from Gareth Bales cross.

Fulham strike and hoped for a winner, Zamora twice scarcely removing on the finish of confident punts in to the box and when he did get a steer of idea he mishit it. All a bit of an anticlimax, really. Roll credits.