the times | Tuesday July 28 2020 2GM 59
Sky Bet Championship play-offsSport
Fulham take a deserved lead into the
second leg of this play-off semi-final
but, more damaging still, it may be that
Cardiff City will suffer for no longer
having the element of surprise.
Neil Harris’s team stunned Fulham
in the early stages with their exuberant
intensity but once Scott Parker’s side
had come to terms with the tub-thump-
ing pace they made their aesthetics
count and won the encounter with one
of the best goals of the season from Josh
Onomah, and a late free kick.
No home side from the second tier
have overcome a two-goal deficit in the
history of the play-offs and so Fulham
will now be favourites to progress to the
final, where they would meet either
Swansea City or Brentford.
Parker’s side have been intermittent-
ly stylish all season, and always on the
cusp of an immediate return to the Pre-
mier League after their relegation in
April last year, but Cardiff were never
the first name on anyone’s lips when
discussing promotion. As Harris put it
in his programme notes: “A fifth-placed
finish in the division looked a long way
off being possible when I first came into
the club back in November.”
Harris was entitled to gloat. His
appointment was not warmly received
by Cardiff supporters and the former
Millwall manager has worked hard to
win them over.
Fulham hearts sank when
Aleksandar Mitrovic, who scored in
both league games against Cardiff this
season, picked up a hamstring problem
in training on Sunday. It led to some
soul-searching from Parker, who said
he decided the best option was to rest
the prolific striker in Wales in the hope
that he would be raring to go in the
return leg on Thursday.
Cardiff were aggressive from the first
whistle, with the visitors’ bench
attempting to compensate with holler-
ing. Parker, at one juncture, yelled “Are
you sure?” with a dash of sarcasm into
the left ear of the assistant referee, who
had failed, in Parker’s view, to spot the
ball crossing the line for what would
have been a Fulham throw.
And so it became a thunderous affair
with the home side creating the first
clear-cut chance when a fearsome
strike from Leandro Bacuna was
parried by Marek Rodák, illustrating
why the Fulham goalkeeper made the
Championship team of the season. The
advancing Robert Glatzel could not
quite make up the distance to convert
the loose ball and a breathless, shell-
shocked Fulham cleared.
By the time of the first drinks break,
the west London club were thankful
not to be quaking. They had been themore intricate but Cardiff were full of
powerful running and crisp passing and
as impatient as Fulham were steady
and cautious, but holding their own by
virtue of Tim Ream’s brave heading and
the stylish bullishness of Harrison Reed
in midfield.
The visitors summoned a series of
shots from the edge of the area but all of
them were blocked by a well-organised
defence. A Neeskens Kebano cross
hung beseechingly in the air but there
was no Mitrovic to greet it and the
chance was wasted, but Fulham were by
now imposing their passing pattern
on the tie. Cyrus Christie stormed
forward to set up Tom Cairney and his
studied, curling trademark strike
shaved the post.
Just as Cardiff had set the tone at the
start of the game, Fulham dictated the
pace at the beginning of the second
period and four minutes into the
second half Onomah gave Fulham the
lead. After looking, briefly, as if he wasnot sure if he wanted to be in the
penalty area, Onomah turned and
glided past three defenders to unleash a
shot that gave Alex Smithies no chance
as it nestled into his bottom-right cor-
ner. It was a quite lovely individual goal
— Onomah’s third of the season, which
have all come since the restart — that
the 23-year-old celebrated by running
to embrace his manager.
Onomah felt like a consolation prize
when he joined as part of the package
that took Ryan Sessegnon to Totten-
ham Hotspur last summer, but the deal
now appears to have been astute
business indeed. He struggled at the
start of his Fulham career, Parker
admitted, adding that “he needed a bit
of a home and a little bit of love”.
After going ahead Fulham became
emboldened and engaged in some
delightful one-touch passing in and
around the area with Cairney, Reed and
Anthony Knockaert displaying a touch
of chemistry rarely seen in the hurly-burly of the play-offs. Cardiff
summoned a brief resurgence with Lee
Tomlin firing an enticing ball across the
six-yard box while Fulham wasted a
flurry of free kicks until, in stoppage
time, Kebano made it 2-0 from just
outside the box.
It was his third goal from a direct free
kick in three consecutive matches, after
his team failed to score from one in the
first 44 league matches of the cam-
paign.
“We’ve been written off time and time
again,” Harris said of his Cardiff side.
“We’re capable of clawing this back.”
History begs to disagree.Race for the Premier League
Semi-final, second legs
Tomorrow
Brentford (0) v Swansea City (1)Thursday
Fulham (2) v Cardiff City (0)Final, Wembley
Tuesday, August 4, 7.45pmCardiff (4-2-3-1): A Smithies 6 — L Bacuna 6,
S Morrison 6, C Nelson 6, J Bennett 6 — M Pack 5,
J Ralls 5 — N Mendez-Laing 5 (J Murphy 70min),
L Tomlin 5, J Hoilett 6 (W Vaulks 70) —
R Glatzel 6 (D Ward 70). Booked Hoilett, Bacuna.
Fulham (4-2-3-1): M Rodák 7 — C Christie 6,
M Hector 6, T Ream 7, J Bryan 6 — H Reed 7,
T Cairney 6 — A Knockaert 7 (A Kamara 81),
J Onomah 8, N Kebano 6 (D Odoi 90+4) —
B De Cordova-Reid 5.Onomah gives Fulham the edge
0
2Semi-final, first leg
Alyson Rudd
1
Cardiff City
Fulham
Onomah 49, Kebano 90+10
2
Onomah gives Fulham the lead in stunning fashion to put the London club in sight of Wembley and a route back to the Premier League after last season’s relegation
NICK POTTS/PA0
Cardiff have now failed
to score a single goal
in each of their past five
Championship play-off
matchesResults
Tennis
St James’s Place Battle of the Brits team
tennis: Day one: British Bulldogs
lead Union Jacks 9-4 (Bulldogs names
first):J Konta lost to J Burrage 6-4, 6-3; C Norrie
bt D Evans 4-6, 6-3, 10-7; K Edmund bt
A Matusevich 7-5, 6-3 A McHugh bt
R Peniston 6-4, 3-6, 10-7; B Grey lost to
H Watson 7-5, 6-4; E Raducanu bt K
Boulter 6-4, 6-3 D Inglot & E Silva lost to
L Glasspool & N Broady 6-4, 6-2; J
Salisbury & H Dart bt J Murray & H Watson
7-5, 3-6, 10-8; D Inglot & A Grey bt D Evans
& L Glasspool 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)TGR Clark, GHS Garton, OE Robinson,
JJ Carson, SC Meaker, ME Claydon, HT
Crocombe did not bat
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-24, 3-44.
Bowling: Barker 6-4-9-1; Fuller 8-1-31-1;
Dale 5-0-31-0; Holland 5-2-11-1; Currie
3-0-20-0.
Umpires: I J Gould and B V Taylor.Kent v Essex
Canterbury (first day of two: Essex won
toss):
Kent: First Innings 258
DJ Bell-Drummond c Chopra b Beard 19
HG Kuhn c Chopra b Porter 11
JM Cox b Porter 52
JA Leaning c Wheater b Quinn 1
†OG Robinson retired out 103
MK Riordan b Porter 0
DI Stevens c Cook b Porter 0
G Stewart lbw b Beard 7
ME Milnes st Wheater b Nijjar 18
HW Podmore c Wheater b Allison 0
Hamidullah Qadri not out 14
TD Groenwald lbw b ten Doeschate 15
Extras (b 7, lb 6, w 3, nb 2) 18
Total (77.1 overs) 258
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-51, 3-52, 4-149,
5-151, 6-151, 7-179, 7-226* (†OG Robin-
son retired not out), 8-227, 9-227.
Bowling: Porter 10-2-44-4; Cook 11-5-
19-0; Quinn 11-2-33-1; Beard 10-1-39-2;
Allison 12-3-40-1; Snater 12-4-36-0; Nijjar
8-3-29-1; ten Doeschate 3.1-1-5-1.
Umpires: NJ Llong and JC Tredwell.
* More than 11 players allowed to bat.Cricket
Friendly matches
Somerset v Gloucestershire
Taunton (second day of four): Somerset,
with seven first-innings wickets in hand,
are 56 runs behind Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire: First Innings (overnight
258-8)
G Roderick c Brooks b Gilchrist 106
J Shaw c van der Merwe b Gilchrist 3
D Payne not out 1
Extras (b 1, lb 7, nb 8) 16
Total (78.3 overs) 273
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-27, 3-100, 4-125,
5-138, 6-219, 7-221, 8-234, 9-272.
Bowling: C Overton 14-5-34-3; Brooks 13-
1-63-2; Davey 12-3-41-0; J Overton 13-2-
46-1; Gilchrist 12-4-32-4; Abell 9-3-30-0;
Lammonby 4-0-19-0; Van der Merwe 1-1-
0-0.
Somerset: First Innings
E Byrom c Payne b Scott 70
T Lammonby c Bracey b Taylor 5
T Abell not out 64
J Hildreth c Hankins b Taylor 48
G Bartlett not out 6
Extras (b 11, lb 1, nb 12) 0
Total (3 wkts, 54 overs) 217
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-108, 3-206.
Bowling: Payne 10-1-43-0; Higgins 12-6-
22-0; Taylor 11-3-23-2; Shaw 5-2-17-0;
Scott 5-0-26-1; Price 4-0-50-0; Hankins
6-1-24-0.
Umpires: I Blackwell and M Newell.
Surrey v Middlesex
Kia Oval (final day of two): Surrey drew
with Middlesex
Surrey: First Innings 335-8 (S G
Borthwick 87, J Clark 67, W G Jacks 62)
Middlesex: First Innings 303-6
SD Robson c Clarke b Taylor 30
MDE Holden c Taylor b Virdi 31
NRT Gubbins c sub Atkinson b Virdi 100
*SS Eskinazi c Borthwick b Dunn 18
TC Lace c Borthwick b Patel 8
MK Andersson b Virdi 65
†JA Simpson not out 14
JAR Harris not out 11
Extras (b 4, lb 8, nb 14) 26
Total (6 wkts, 90 overs) 303
TS Roland-Jones, ML Cummins,
TJ Murtagh, NA Sowter, TN Walallawita, BC
Cullen, ER Bamber and TG Helm did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-78, 3-115, 4-139,
5-273, 6-282.
Bowling: Dunn 10-0-35-1; Clarke 9-6-17-0;
Taylor 10-5-59-1; Clark 10-2-36-0; Patel
10-5-12-1; Virdi 15-1-52-3; Moriarty 15-3-
49-0; Borthwick 11-3-31-0.
Umpires: PJ Makepeace and D Beasley.Sussex v Hampshire
Hove (first day of two: toss uncontested):
Sussex: First Innings 102-3
LWP Wells c McManus b Barker 15
TJ Haines c Currie b Fuller 0
HZ Finch not out 46
DMW Rawlins c No rtheast b Holland 2
*†BC Brown not out 37
Extras (nb 2) 2
Total (3 wkts, 27 overs) 102Cricket
Edgbaston: Two-day friendly Worcester-
shire v Warwickshire day one of two
Emerald Headingley: Two-day friendly
Yorkshire v Durham final day of two
Northampton: Two-day friendly North-
amptonshire v Middlesex first day of twoTennis
National Tennis Centre, Wandsworth:
Battle of the Brits 2 day twoFixtures
City acting fast as Torres
closes in on £30m move
Txiki Begiristain, the Manchester City
director of football, says that the club
will move fast to secure their transfer
targets as they close in on the signing of
Ferran Torres from Valencia.
Torres wants to leave his home-town
club, who need to raise funds due to the
financial impact of Covid-19, and Pep
Guardiola is keen to sign the 20-year-
old Spanish winger after losing Leroy
Sané to Bayern Munich.
It is understood that Torres has
already reached a verbal agreement
with City over a five-year contract. The
two clubs are yet to agree on a fee but
City are hopeful of concluding a deal
worth in the region of £30 million for
the player, who scored four goals and
set up five more in the league thisseason. Valencia offered their academy
graduate a new contract in February
but he is yet to respond to their proposal
and it is understood that he wants to
work under Guardiola.
The City manager wants to sign two
centre backs in addition to Torres. Kali-
dou Koulibaly, the Napoli defender, 29,
and Pau Torres, 23, of Villarreal are on
Guardiola’s wishlist.
“We are working a lot,” Begiristain,
55, said. “We have to be ready. It will be
a strange window. People have to move
fast, we have to bring players who can
improve our squad but also it means
that maybe someone can leave.
“We have the Champions League so
we have to wait to move forward. We
might have less time than ever but we’ll
have time to make the changes we need
to the squad.”Paul Hirst