Fulham 0-1 Sheffield United: Ndiaye solo stunner sinks league leaders

Fulham 0-1 Sheffield United: Incredible Iliman Ndiaye solo goal seals victory at Championship leaders as Aleksandar Mitrovic hits the crossbar late on… making five games without a win for Marco Silva

  • Sheffield United faced Championship leaders Fulham at Craven Cottage
  • Iliman Ndiaye scored just three minutes into the game with a sensational dribble
  • Fulham threw everything at the mid-table Blades, who defended bravely 
  • Aleksandar Mitrovic hit the crossbar late, but are now five games winless  

Does anybody actually fancy taking charge of the Championship?

Bournemouth looked a shoo-in for automatic promotion but their form has collapsed, while fellow Premier League hopefuls Fulham suddenly find themselves in the mid-season doldrums.

It seems a mad thing to say about a side unbeaten in 12 games and who will be Christmas No 1 but this defeat to Sheffield United was a fifth winless fixture for Marco Silva’s faltering team who passed up the chance to move five points clear.   

Iliman Ndiaye scored a bulldozing solo goal as Sheffield United upset league leaders Fulham 

The Blades star picked the ball up in his own half before charging to the edge of the box 

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Rodak; Tete, Adarabioyo, Ream (c), Robinson (Muniz 69); Seri (Cairney 46), Reed; Wilson, Carvalho (De Cordova Reid 61), Kebano; Mitrovic

Substitutes not used: Gazzaniga (GK); Odoi, Chalobah, Bryan

Manager: Marco Silva

Sheffield United (3-4-2-1): Foderingham; Basham, Egan, Robinson; Bogle, Norwood, Hourihane (Fleck 76), Stevens; Gibbs-White (Berge 46), Ndiaye (Osborn 78); Sharp (c)

Substitutes not used: Eastwood (GK); Baldock, Burke, Freeman

Manager: Paul Heckingbottom

Scorer: Ndiaye 3

Booked: Foderingham, Robinson, Bogle

Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight)

Attendance: 17,308

There wasn’t anything remotely fluky about the result either. The Blades are much-improved since Paul Heckingbottom took over from Slavisa Jokanovic and this was their fourth straight win to take them within three points of the play-off spots.

Having seized the lead courtesy of Iliman Ndiaye’s eye-catching solo goal, they shut down Fulham’s myriad attacking threats until they simply ran out of ideas.

During a stoppage time onslaught, Aleksandar Mitrovic crashed a shot against the crossbar with Harry Wilson firing the rebound wide. But that was as close as they came.

Unusually for such a hectic division, Fulham hadn’t played for nine days and it showed in their sluggish start. Typically, the league leaders are up and at ‘em early on but here they were left stunned three minutes in.

It was a magnificent individual goal by Ndiaye but was undoubtedly helped by Fulham being so accommodating.

The young Frenchman collected the ball 20 yards inside his own half, turned and drove over the halfway line, brushing off Jean Michael Seri with ease.

With centre-halves Tim Ream and Tosin Adarabioyo distracted by runners and backing off, Ndiaye was able to keep coming before picking out the bottom corner with a perfectly-placed low shot.

Fulham were sloppy in the first-half. Too many passes failed to find their intended target and they lacked their usual fluidity going forward with the Blades compact and difficult to play through.

The best chance fell the way of Mitrovic, the Championship’s leading scorer and a man on course to break all manner of scoring records.

Kenny Tete launched a ball over the Blades defence from right-back and when Mitrovic connected with a right-footed volley you expected the net to bulge. But even he misses sometimes and it flashed across goal.

Marco Silva’s side are now five matches without a victory and in danger of losing the lead 

Aleksandar Mitrovic stuck the woodwork in injury-time as Fulham lunged for a late equaliser 

The Blades are on a roll of four straight victories and look resurgent after adapting slowly 

Wilson charged across the United box from right to left, ignoring Neeskens Kebano to shoot himself only to miss the ball and then topple over.

And not long before half-time, Kebano spun inside the box to fire wide after Adarabioyo had headed the ball across and Ream teed him up.

It didn’t take long for the home fans, armed with their cardboard clappers, to become restless. A voice at the back of the stand helpfully implored the home side to ‘pass the ball’ and ‘play better’.

They were especially peeved at United’s time-wasting tactics with keeper Wes Foderingham receiving a yellow card even before half-time for dawdling over a goal kick.

The Blades will not look to push back up the table, now only three points outside the play-offs

Marco Silva introduced Tom Cairney at half-time and then Bobby De Cordova Reid just after the hour to try and improve things but Fulham continued to be bogged down.

United remained an occasional danger on the counter as well with Tete having to intervene to stop Jayden Bogle after he’d rolled Adarabioyo inside the box. Billy Sharp also had the ball in the net but was flagged offside as he celebrated in front of the away end.

Fulham waited a long time for a decent second-half opening but when it came Mitrovic’s low shot lacked the necessary power. Fulham may be top of the table but they certainly look fallible.




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