By Fulham’s recent standards, this was a meagre result. Just when it seemed Marco Silva had the Championship sussed, promotion inevitable, the division threw up another one those oddities, a plot twist to remind us that nothing is a formality in this league.
Aleksandar Mitrovic made it 28 goals for the season, three off Ivan Toney’s record-breaking tally last season, but the runaway leaders were ultimately held by Blackpool, for whom this point will provide encouragement that they could again make a run for the play-offs, this time from 14th, after winning promotion from League One via Wembley last season.
Fulham could have feasibly been four goals up in the first seven minutes such was their early domination but Blackpool turned the tide after a medical emergency in the stands, which delayed play for 40 minutes and disrupted Fulham’s rhythm.
The game was paused on 13 minutes and, after the referee Peter Bankes directed both teams off the pitch, a man was taken to hospital in an ambulance after suffering a cardiac arrest in the Hammersmith End. Sadly, the club announced in the evening that the supporter had died.
Before leaving the field for the stoppage, both sets of players tried to keep warm, zipping passes around and the Blackpool defender Richard Keogh and goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw were embroiled in conversation, presumably plotting a route back into the game.
Fulham had bombarded Blackpool from kick-off, Mitrovic stooping in front of Keogh to meet a Denis Odoi cross with 55 seconds on the clock. A couple of minutes later Fabio Carvalho, a prodigious talent, flicked another Odoi cross goalwards but his effort dribbled towards Grimshaw.
Fulham were living up to their status as the most prolific team in Europe – they have scored 74 goals this season, one shy of Norwich’s total in this division last season with 18 games to play – but faded after the enforced first-half break.
“I don’t like to find an easy excuse,” Silva said. “I prefer to look at ourselves. The way the game was in the moment, we would score the second goal quickly. I don’t have any doubts about that. You could smell that the second goal would come for us.”
The game had threatened to be a nonevent even before Mitrovic tapped in on five minutes but Blackpool somehow managed to survive an early barrage of chances and 10 minutes after the interval replied through Josh Bowler, who was released by Fulham as a youngster and scored the winner when these sides met in September.
Bowler was a threat throughout and in the first half he smacked a shot against the crossbar after cutting inside Tim Ream following a powerful run by Shayne Lavery, who got the better of Harrison Reed on halfway.
The equaliser arrived when CJ Hamilton pulled the ball back to the fringe of the Fulham penalty area and Bowler powered in a goal that will only add to his valuation as the transfer deadline approaches, with Nottingham Forest among the clubs keen to sign the winger.
“I thought he was outstanding,” said the Blackpool head coach, Neil Critchley. “If he is still at the club at 11 o’clock on Monday night then we’ll all be delighted.”
With a one-goal lead and the sun piercing through the imposing Riverside Stand, a work in progress set to be opened in time for next season, it looked as though Fulham would add to their advantage.
A headed clearance by the Blackpool defender Jordan Thorniley recoiled on to a post and Mitrovic hit the woodwork before Harry Wilson went close to finding Fulham a second goal after latching on to a reverse pass by Reed.
Wilson would have had a contender for goal of the season had he found the net when his sumptuous lob dropped wide. He brought a wonderful ball by Tosin Adarabioyo under his spell and then flicked a shot goalwards with his next touch.
“We didn’t start the game particularly well, which was my fault,” Critchley said. “We started a little bit tentatively. I said to the players at the break [in the first half]: ‘If we fail, then we fail being us. We’ve got nothing to lose, let’s go for it. If we get exposed and they score, so what? They’ve been scoring goals for fun anyway.’
“In the second half I thought it was an even game. We knew that psychologically the game could be difficult for them, because they’re expected to win.”
From there Blackpool successfully dampened Fulham’s mood and could have scored a winner but Marek Rodak saved smartly to deny Hamilton from an acute angle after a poor clearance by the Fulham substitute Nathaniel Chalobah.
If this result is not enough to bring Fulham back down to earth, then a trip to Manchester City in the FA Cup next Saturday should do the trick.
