Fulham 1 Aston Villa 2Fulham endured a nightmare evening at Loftus Road as they crashed to Aston Villa.
Fulham had Carlos Bocanegra sent off for an horrendous tackle and may face censure after a bottle was thrown in the direction of an assistant referee.
They could scarcely have made a better start and went in front after just 52 seconds through a fierce Luis Boa Morte strike. But it was downhill all the way after that as Edwin van der Sar's blunder gifted Juan Pablo Angel a 12th-minute equaliser.
Things went from bad to worse when the home defence went AWOL to let Darius Vassell, just 5ft 7in tall, nod in the winner just after the half-hour.
FULHAM: Van der Sar, Volz, Knight, Pearce, Bocanegra, Malbranque, Clark (Petta 45), Djetou (Hayles 70), Sean Davis, Boa Morte, McBride. Subs Not Used: Crossley, Legwinski, Inamoto. Sent Off: Bocanegra (75). Booked: Sean Davis, Knight. Goals: Boa Morte 1.
ASTON VILLA: Sorensen, Delaney (De la Cruz 77), Mellberg, Johnsen, Samuel, Hendrie (Ridgewell 89), Solano, Hitzlsperger, Barry (Whittingham 80), Vassell, Angel. Subs Not Used: Postma, Crouch. Booked: Barry. Goals: Angel 13, Vassell 32.
Referee: B Knight (Kent).
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