John earns Fulham a little respite

Fulham 2 Sunderland 1In recent matches Fulham have resembled the famous Boat Race crew who, rowing hard, still sank into the murky waters of the Thames, not far from Craven Cottage.

Their previous three matches had brought a solitary point, defeats against Chelsea and Portsmouth either side of a draw at home to Aston Villa, when they surrendered the lead three times; they were beginning to ship relegation water.

Hit hard by injuries and subverted by collapsing confidence, they did not play well here. But the victory, which moved them up one place, to 14th, was still crucial against a Sunderland side who have forgotten how to win football matches, even though they took the lead here and went behind only after being reduced to 10 men by Stephen Caldwell's dismissal.

"We didn't play well but we showed great character," said manager Chris Coleman. "We're just two points away from West Ham, who have had a great season, apparently."

He then had some words of criticism for Collins John, even though the forward had scored two goals playing out of position. "Collins doesn't like playing wide on the right," he said. "But I've told him that he must work harder. It's about the team."

Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy is taking the club down to the Championship for the second time in three years, but he remains professionally self-deluded, a man well paid to be in denial.

"I thought we were far away the better side in the first half," he said. "While there are points to be had we'll keep scrapping."

But there is a forlorn tone in his voice. Deep down he must know his side have no realistic chance of survival.

With six points from 20 games they are in danger of not beating the 19 they managed in 2002-03, the record low tally from a Premiership season. McCarthy admitted he was "not surprised" at reports linking Kevin Keegan with the Sunderland manager's job, but said he knew nothing about any approach to the former Newcastle and Manchester City manager.

"I shouldn't be surprised by the report because we're bottom of the league. I can't do anything about it, I've just got to get on with the job," he said.

Fulham's sighs of relief were mixed with those of frustration. Papa Bouba Diop and Steed Malbranque, arguably their best two players, returned from injury only to limp off before the end. Diop had been rushed back into service but the gamble misfired and he came off in the fourth minute.

Malbranque came on in the 69th but hobbled off less than 10 minutes later following a bone-shuddering tackle that earned a yellow card for Tommy Miller. Coleman had used his third substitute two minutes earlier.

Sunderland deserved to take the lead against a neurotic looking Fulham defence after only seven minutes. Danny Collins crossed from the left, Zat Knight fluffed rather than cleared his lines and Liam Lawrence scored with a clean left-foot volley from 20 yards.

Fulham almost equalised in the 20th minute when Luis Boa Morte put in a low and nasty cross from the left, but Miller just got in front of Diop.

The home side did score in the 43rd minute when Sylvain Legwinski's cross from the left was flicked on by Brian McBride for John to send his header into the top right corner.

John made it 2-1 with another header from Heidar Helguson's left-wing cross after 62 minutes. That was just after Caldwell had been sent off for denying McBride a scoring opportunity.

But, depleted as well as dispirited, Sunderland still went close to stealing a point in the closing stages.

FULHAM: Warner; Leacock, Pearce, Knight,Rosenior (Niclas Jensen 75), Boa Morte, Diop (Helguson 40), Legwinski, Radzinski, McBride, John (Malbranque 69). Subs not used: Drobny, Rehman. Booked: Leacock, Legwinski. Goals: John 43, 61.

SUNDERLAND: Davis; Hoyte (Murphy 64), Breen, Caldwell, Arca, Lawrence, Whitehead, Collins, Le Tallec (Nosworthy 64), Stead (Gray 65), Miller. Subs not used: Alnwick, Woods.Sent Off: Caldwell (57). Booked: Miller, Arca. Goal: Lawrence 7.

Referee: D Gallagher (Oxfordshire).