Strong first-half showing sees Schalke to 3-2 win over Fulham
13.07.2005
The Royal Blues played 45 minutes of very attractive football on their way to a 3-2 win over Fulham in Austria last night. Only after several substitutions had been made were the London side able to make it a more acceptable scoreline.
In front of a reasonable crowd at the Franz Fekete Stadium in Kapfenberg Schalke pressured their opponents from the off, frequently winning the ball to launch a series of quick, direct attacks.
The first came as early as the second minute when Ebbe Sand won possession and immediately set up Levan Kobiashvili, whose drive from the edge of the box was punched away from the top corner by Fulham keeper Jaroslav Drobny. There was nothing the Czech could do in the tenth minute, though, when the Dane and the Georgian linked up once again. Hamit Altintop sent in a cross, Sand flicked it on with his head and Kobiashvili nodded home from close range.
Within a minute Schalke had extended their lead. Lincoln struck a sweet free-kick straight to Marcelo Bordon in the penalty box, and the Brazilian defender chested the ball down and dispatched a fierce shot into the roof of the net.
The Londoners struggled to cope with Schalke's slick passing game and were unable to launch a single constructive attacking move in the first period.
After 23 minutes Drobny prevented his side from going even further behind. Christian Poulsen sprang Fulham's offside trap and passed the ball to Lincoln, who back-heeled it into the path of Gustavo Varela. Under pressure from the advancing keeper, however, the Uruguayan put his shot over the crossbar. Four minutes later Lincoln found Kobiashvili with a superb pass, but the Georgian was a little too fancy, lobbing the ball over both keeper and crossbar.
Ralf Rangnick's men eventually ended the half with a scoreline that reflected their superiority. On 37 minutes Sylvain Legwinski prevented Bajramovic's through ball from reaching Lincoln with his hand. And in the manner we have been accustomed to in the Bundesliga, the Brazilian stepped up to curl the resulting free‑kick into the left-hand corner of the net. Five minutes later Legwinski drew some encouraging applause for Fulham when he fired off a salvo from outside the area. It may have missed Frank Rost's goal by quite some distance, but it was their first shot of the game.
Rangnick made five changes at half-time, and the new Schalke formation needed ten minutes before being able to resume the pressure on Fulham. But it still came as something of a surprise when the Londoners pulled a goal back on the hour. Chasing a long through ball, Michael Timlin exploited a gap in the centre of the Schalke defence and slipped a shot past Rost into the right-hand corner to make it 3-1. Eight minutes later they almost struck again, but Rost pulled off a fine reflex save to deny Steed Malbranque.
On 73 minutes it was Schalke's turn again. Hamit Altintop, along with keeper Frank Rost the only outfield player to feature from start to finish, teed up Mario Klinger, whose left‑foot shot was saved by Drobny. The English side did narrow the deficit two minutes later, though. A half-cleared cross landed at the feet of Claus Jensen, who made no mistake from 14 metres. Just before the end Fulham could even have grabbed an equaliser. Former England international Andy Cole tried his luck from outside the box, but Rost tipped the ball over the bar. On account of Schalke's first half showing, however, a draw would have been nothing like a true reflection of the game.
Schalke: Rost – Altintop, Bordon (Waldoch 46'), Rodriguez (Kläsener 61'), Krstajic (Müller 46') – Bajramovic (Gündogan 61'), Poulsen (Klinger 46') – Varela (Hoogland 46'), Lincoln (Cziommer 46'), Kobiashvili (Baumjohann 61') – Sand (Laumann 61')
Fulham: Drobny – Volz, Leacock (Rehman 83'), Green (Milson 81'), Rui Jorge (Fontaine 61') – McDermott (Malbranque 55'), Timlin (Radzinski 61'), Pratley (Elrich 55'), Legwinski (Pembridge 69') – James (Jensen 58'), Ehui (Cole 61')
Goals: 1-0 Kobiashvili (10'), 2-0 Bordon (11'), 3-0 Lincoln (37'), 3-1 Timlin (60'), 3-2 Jensen (75')
Attendance: 2,500
