Fulham see off Championship side Middlesbrough in FA Cup
The home side had trailed their second-tier opponents.
Harry Wilson, Emile Smith Rowe and Kevin all scored in the second half as Fulham fought from behind to secure a 3-1 FA Cup victory against Middlesbrough.
Hayden Hackney gave the second-placed Championship side a deserved lead in the opening period at Craven Cottage before substitute Wilson struck a brilliant equaliser on the hour mark.
Tommy Conway hit the crossbar for Boro moments later only to see Smith Rowe then put Fulham ahead with 13 minutes to go. Kevin put the gloss on the victory with a third for the hosts in stoppage time.
The defeat marks an historic sixth consecutive FA Cup defeat for Boro and extends their winless streak in the competition in London to 23 matches across the last 69 years.
Fulham boss Marco Silva, who made seven changes from the side that saw off Chelsea 2-1 on Wednesday, was forced to watch from the stands as he served a touchline ban. And he would have been desperately disappointed with his side’s first-half performance.
There was a warning sign for his players are just four minutes. Morgan Whittaker found Sam Silvera, and his first-time cross was turned goalwards by Conway, who was only to be denied by goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte’s outstretched leg.
However, in the 30th minute, Boro earned a deserved breakthrough. Silvera played a a silky one-two with Aidan Morris before he rode Ryan Sessegnon’s challenge, and then squared the ball back from the byline for Hackney to coolly convert.
“Premier League, you’re having a laugh,” goaded the raucous visiting support.
There was a chance for Fulham in the closing minutes of a bleak opening 45 minutes when Jorge Cuenca struck Harrison Reed’s corner on target, but Luke Ayling produced an impressive goal-line clearance to ensure his side led at the interval.
Wilson, Raul Jimenez and Tom Cairney were all introduced just 10 minutes after the break to turn the tide in Fulham’s favour. And it worked when Wilson conjured up a special equaliser.
In truth, the substitute was afforded too much time by the Boro defence as he collected Kevin’s wayward cross before turning out of the penalty area.
He was allowed to compose himself on the edge of the box before unleashing a curling left-footed strike which nestled into the bottom corner.
The goal might have been expected to serve as a blow to Boro’s confidence, but just minutes later they came within inches of restoring their lead when Conway’s strike inside the box clipped Lecomte’s crossbar.
On 71 minutes, Kevin latched on to Wilson’s defence-splitting pass, but his bending effort dropped just wide. The influential Wilson then attempted to reproduce his equaliser but this time Bryn was equal to it with the Boro stopper saving Antonee Robinson’s follow-up, too.
Fulham were in the ascendancy and Smith Rowe struck. The former Arsenal man drove at the Boro defence, finding Wilson and then collecting Cairney’s pass unmarked in the area, before firing past Brynn.
Boro might have responded almost immediately but Whittaker fluffed his lines – swerving his strike wide when he should have found the target – and Kevin added a third in injury time from Wilson’s fine cross as Fulham made sure of their sixth successive third-round triumph.
