Wednesday 27th April 2011 (Premier League)
Fulham 3 (Dempsey 15, 48, Hangeland 65) Bolton Wanderers 0
Attendance: 23,222
A game that, for all intents and purposes, was a bit of a dead rubber ended up being a comfortable victory for Fulham, with goals from Clint Dempsey and Brede Hangeland securing another season in the Premier League for Fulham.
On an individual level, Dempsey's brace made him Fulham's top Premier League goalscorer, taking him past compatriot Brian McBride's and Frenchman Steed Malbranque's 32 strikes for the Cottagers. The American was not the only one to impress, from what I could see, with Eidar Gudjohnsson coming close on a couple of occasions.
With live European Champions' League footbal on terrestrial television and Bolton's season all but over, I was surprised that the crowd was as high as it was, though the reduced price if £5 for juniors may have boosted the attendance.
As with the F.A. Cup tie between the two sides, the visit of Lee Chung Yong to Craven Cottage attracted a lot of South Korean fans of all ages. Once again, they were unable to celebrate him scoring, though I would have liked to have seen the reaction if he had been able to hit the back of the net.
There were no major problems today, apart from the presence of what looked like a doggy-doo on the steps before the game, probably from one of the sniffer dogs that are used to check for suspect packages, though it could well have been a reminder that the fox that meandered across the pitch in the pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen in sunny, pre-season August is still around.
There are still issues that need to be addressed by management though. Not for the first time, some supporters asked to visit the club shop during the game, only to find that there's no access to the Stevenage Road stand from the Putney stand, an irritating inconvenience if they can't visit the shop after the game. This restriction is even more frustrating when one considers the amount of tourists that buy tickets for the Putney Stand, as I'm sure it must be disappointing to find that you can't leave with a souvenir of, possibly, your only trip to the Cottage.
The other thing is the Michael Jackson statue. Not surprisingly, the chairman's decision to erect this monument has created a lot of media attention and supporters are naturally keen to see what all the fuss is about. The problem is that unless you pass through the gate from the Putney Stand to the Riverside Stand just as it is opened, 10 or 15 minutes after the final whistle, you cannot get to see the statue. Again, for the casual supporter, this is very frustrating.
Anyway, the next game is against Liverpool, the match I've been waiting for all season. Apart from a victory for the Reds, all I'm hoping for is that the supporters are well-behaved and good-natured.
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