Fulham leave it late to defeat 10-man Barnsley

Posted Sunday, January 28, 2018 by PA

Kevin McDonald and Ryan Sessegnon both scored in added-on time as Fulham clinched their sixth win in seven Sky Bet Championship matches by defeating 10-man Barnsley 3-1 at Oakwell.

The Cottagers came into the match on the back of a six-match unbeaten streak in the second tier but they fell behind just after the half hour though Liam Lindsay’s scrappy goal.

Sessegnon levelled just after the break following Dimitri Cavare’s senseless red card on the stroke of half-time and the visitors snatched all three points at the death.

It was cruel luck on the Tykes, who remain two points above the drop zone, while Fulham are into the top six after clinching a fourth straight league win.

Barnsley were the better team in the first half though and their opener just after the half hour-mark was little more than they deserved up to that point.

A corner led to a goal mouth scramble, where Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli made an initial save – but Lindsay was on hand to bundle the ball home after 31 minutes.

Before that the hosts had good openings through Stephen Mallan and George Moncur. The former forced Bettinelli into beating the ball away from an early effort from range while Moncur’s shot after good interlinking play was blocked by team-mate Kieffer Moore.

Fulham struggled to create in the opening 45 and their only chances came from set plays. Stefan Johansen failed to trouble Davies as his free-kick bounced wide after 16 minutes – and then Oliver Norwood’s shot hit the side netting.

Just before the break, Barnsley were reduced to 10 men. Cavare – who had been booked only minutes earlier for a trip on Sessegnon – was shown a second yellow card and sent off after shoving Johansen rather needlessly in the back of the head after being fouled.

The visitors came out of the traps quickly in the second half and after 49 minutes they were level.

Ryan Fredericks did brilliantly to beat two men inside the box and although he was denied by the post, the rebound was pounced on Sessegnon to net his 10th goal of the campaign.

With 25 minutes to go, substitute Neeskens Kebano went close to putting the visiting side in front, cutting in from the left and then firing inches over the bar.

Substitute Ryan Hedges went close for Barnsley, beating the Fulham defence with just over 10 minutes to go but Bettinelli denied him.

Fulham were to have the final word as McDonald bundled the ball home in scrappy fashion in the second minute of injury time.

Sessegnon then added gloss to the scoreline in the fifth minute of injury time when he turned in Kebano’s cross on the counter-attack.