Fulham vs Sunderland mosaic
by… JonHall

As we approach Tuesday’s vital return to Premier football, Fulham have a clear psychological advantage. While we pottered to a dull 0-0 draw with Blackburn, with them having the better chances and both of us now facing our fifth encounter of season, Fulham won a place in the 5th round, albeit by beating modest opposition in the form of Kettering Town.
They’re also rather higher than us in the league, even though just about everyone who saw the first game between us, at Craven Cottage, seems to agree that we were by far the better side and should have won.
Strange club, Fulham. When Salut! Sunderland can actually find a Fulham fan to preview a game, we get great stuff; witness Joe Jenkins’s piece ahead of that first game and Steve Battams‘s offering last season. But it has been a long search for anyone to have a go before Tuesday (though we did have a promise of photographs from Jon Hall, who will be among what will surely be a tiny band of away fans making the trip).
There was silence from Vital Fulham, although the Vital network had produced good responses for both the Villa and Blackburn games, and other approaches drew a blank. So was it a bit of a collective “BOG OFF MACKEM!”, to quote one Fulham soul, “Al Billy”, in his reply to a similar request last October for a witty or wise Fulham fan to write here?
Not quite. Fortunately, Steve Battams* – who chalked up 550 games in his own semi-pro playing career, Staines Town, Ashford Town and Carshalton Athletic – was willing to stand in as supersub and return to these pages with his updated thoughts. Steve likes our front two – let’s hope they still ARE our front two when the transfer window closes – thinks we’ll stay up and would settle for a draw on Tuesday. Over to him…..

Salut!….Looks from here as if Fulham are having a better season than most would have expected. Does that sum up how you feel?

Steve… Pretty much, although the way we played our way out of trouble last season under exceptional pressure gave me hope for the start of this campaign. It is clear that Roy Hodgson is an experienced coach who gets the best out of the players available to him and I hope this continues.

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