DAYS don’t get much worse than this for Fulham fans.
Just as Aleksandar Mitrovic was jetting off for his Saudi Arabian pay-day, two defensive horror shows handed derby victory to Brentford.
Not long after news of Mitrovic’s £45million move to Riyadh filtered through at Craven Cottage, Issa Diop was gifting Yoane Wissa an undeserved opener.
Keen not to let his partner down, fellow centre-back Tim Ream joined in after the break by conceding a penalty to Wissa and being sent off allowing Bryan Mbeumo to convert before he killed them off in injury time.
With Ivan Toney suspended and Mitrovic heading to join new teammate Neymar in the desert, these were to teams shorn of their talisman and struggling to craft a chance at either end early on.
One side certainly coped better than the other without their main man.
While Wissa and Mbeumo stepped up to the task, both scoring in consecutive games to start the season, Raul Jimenez struggled to make an impact.
It looked like someone would have to make a mistake to find the opening and that was the case just before the break.
After Mark Flekken and Nathan Collins, confusing themselves over a cross, and Ethan Pinnock, heading onto his own bar from a corner, had almost handed Fulham the lead Diop took over in front of the Fulham goal.
The gaffe-prone former West Ham defender looked to roll the simplest of passes back to his goalkeeper, but duffed it into a wide open space between himself and Ream.
Wissa raced into the gap, rounded Bernd Leno and finished well to go in on a high.
The opener injected so much needed life into this west London derby – the most polite rivalry the Premier League has to offer.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid looped an effort onto the bar from Harrison Reed’s lay-off before, moments later, Leno had to move quickly to tip Jensen’s effort over the bar.
Fulham were improving and Harry Wilson sent an effort at Flekken, but then things came undone at the back once more.
Wissa was causing all sorts of trouble for the Cottagers, having an attempt deflected behind for a corner moments before winning the spot-kick.
And it was very much won.
Ream had a lot of complaints over the decision, and maybe rightly so.
The American defender had let Wissa get the wrong side of him and, after the softest of nudges in the back, watched the French forward hit the deck.
After a second yellow for Ream and huge protests, Mbeumo fired low onto the inside of the post and in.
With ten men Fulham were simply hanging on and Brentford started to cruise, but there was time for one final flourish thanks to nine added minutes – and now they were taking the p***.
Centre-back Kristoffer Ajer collected the ball from Flekken and charged the length of the pitch, playing a smart one-two with Rico Henry before squaring for Mbeumo to deliver the final blow.
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