A hastily arranged game against Fulham should have caused concern on two fronts. Firstly, hastily arranged games don't always guarantee great squads, secondly, ASB seem to have a habit of not getting the results our performances deserve against Fulham.
 
Any concern for the squad was swiftly dismissed as a strong and numerous bunch of ASBers gathered at a windswept Warren Farm (when is it not windswept? A gnat's fart could make Warren Farm seem like a windy desolate place).

Lengthy pre-match discussion in the dressing room set the tone for a focussed ASB performance. Jordan was faced with a surplus of options for this tricky fixture but plumped on this as a starting XI:

GK : Juzza
RB : Orville LB : Tweena
CB : Woody & Peewee
RM : Jamie LM : Sharkey
CM : Riz & Task
S : Malik & Mungo

Subs : Adam & Jordan

ASB started the game very strongly, biting into tackles and swiftly getting our passing going. In contrast Fulham seemed strangely subdued, perhaps conscious of their bare 11 and ASB's healthy squad. Fulham's tall centre backs were comfortable in the air but made very uncomfortable by the movement of our midfield and attack. Mungo was arcing some good runs in behind their defence while Malik foraged productively. One of Mungo's runs saw him released by a through ball from midfield onto his left foot. Although he got a good shot off, the ball flew wide.

Shortly after another good run saw Mungo put in by Tina from left back. Under pressure again from a recovering Fulham defence Mungo shaped to shoot but ended up screwing his effort wide of the far post, but fortunately into the path of Malik who rammed the ball home from 10 yards. 1-0 to the ASB and we were rampant. An excellent run from Sharkey got him to the byline but his cut back was ballooned over the bar by Riz after the ball was played slightly behind him (a very similar miss to one by Furlong in the QPR game later).

I can't remember too many specific incidents and chances in this period (writing this weeks after the game) but I do remember us being all over them. Riz and Task were getting their heads to every Fulham clearance and goal kick in midfield, launching wave after wave of ASB attack.
 
Most sides would have folded under such an onslaught, but Fulham to their credit began to come into the game more as ASB couldn't find a killer second goal. Their skilful but psycho midfielder had come more central and was getting on the ball more, helped by a bizarre bandana wearing sub who seemed to give Fulham more shape.

After a strong 35 minutes Sharkey unfortunately had to go off injured to be replaced by Slouch, who must have produced one of the longest substitutions in ASB history as he laboured to remove his tracksuit, while Malik moved back to right mid to allow Jamie a spell up front. At the same time Fulham decided on a plan B - nothing was getting past Riz and Task in the air so they looked to bypass the central midfield as much as possible, playing wide and aiming to get in behind our flanks.

ASB's midfield took a while to adjust and Fulham's plan B began to work for them - they finished the half strongly with their nippy striker starting to create more bother for Woody and Peewee by moving across the backline. They didn't really test Juzza overly, but did start to put us under pressure with some good moves. Their best chance came from a long shot which rebounded off the post onto Juzza and out for a corner. It never really looked like going in, but it was a vicious drive and if the fates had been less kind could easily have rebounded in off Juzza's bountiful frame.

1-0 at half time and for once a welcome chance for ASB to regroup. After dominating the first 20/25 minutes we had done well not to concede during the late pressure. Jordan came on for Jamie up front and the plan for the second half was to get back to the passing that had caused Fulham so much trouble early on. The question was would Fulham let us re-establish our passing game?

They didn't, but the ASB midfield at least began to compete better. Slouch warmed up and got into the game more, showing the strong physical side to his game that isn't normally required. It wasn't a game or conditions for fine touches - we had to battle our way to a result against a strong and motivated Fulham side. Malik too was getting really stuck in, allowing ASB to start winning the physical battle in midfield, even if Fulham wouldn't let us re-establish our passing game.

The defence remained solid while occasionally setting up some excellent opportunities with some crisp passing. One delightfully incisive long pass from Orville released Mungo 1 on 1 with their 'keeper as his pace got him clear only for his shot to loop over.

The decisive moment of the game arrived about ten minutes into the second half. Riz was trying to get clear down the middle of midfield on a break but was cynically hacked down with a blatant foul. However Frangi played an excellent advantage, allowing Jordan to tee the ball up and volley home from all of forty yards. A brilliant strike and one that you could see was going in as soon as he hit it. I think we all knew that barring mishaps a 2-0 lead would be decisive. Fulham certainly knew it too and began to get more petulant as they sensed things were not going their way.

Both teams were playing a physical game, often resorting to very physical tackling to stop an opponent. But where ASB - Tina in particular - were prepared to pick themselves up and get on with the game, Fulham seemed to feel a greater injustice when fouled. Their nippy forward drove in from the right wing and Riz brought the man down with a cynical but defendably professional foul in a central position. This was the cue for their strop merchant to reignite his feud with Riz. Running at Riz as he was prone on the floor. I wasn't sure if self restraint was going to be exercised by either player, but this incident passed off peacefully albeit with a lot of verbals. Fulham strop merchant composed himself enough to balloon the resulting free kick high, wide and not very handsome, much to Riz's evident delight.

A couple more contre-temps showed that sparks were flying in midfield but it seemed that Riz was succeeding in winding up his opposite number while retaining his calm - a tactic akin to putting out a fire with petrol, but nonetheless it seemed to be working. Adam came on for Task in the middle of the park, but neither side was able to rise above the physical battle and convert a telling chance. One more flare up ensued when the Fulham midfielder butted his head into Riz's back and a predictable flare up followed with punches and slaps thrown. Frangi had missed the original but, although he noted Riz's reaction and forced a substitution for ASB while the Fulham man remained on the pitch stewing in his bad mood. This saw Task back in centre mid with Malik as Adam moved right.

I won't dwell on the morals and theories of the flare up, nor of Riz continuing the argument from the sidelines, but suffice to say it seemed to cow the spirit of both teams. We all knew ASB were on top and barring a freak show would win fairly comfortably. we could quite easily have ended the game there and then for all the action that followed. Iain and Kier were unfortunate to remain on the sidelines but showed good spirt and humour in running the line and their reactions after the game. It was a physical game, with lots at stake and it had even taken experienced players like Slouch a good 20 minutes to get the pace of the game, so it would have been a tough game to come into late on.

Orv was deservedly voted man of the match for his consistently excellent defending and some incisive passing forward. It seemed right that the award had gone to a defender on a day that was all about ASB competing physically and not giving anything away. The important thing was the result. Fulham asked a lot of questions of ASB, but we stood up as a team, epitomised by players normally better known for their flair and pace like Malik and Slouch really mucking in and putting in some tough challenges in midfield.

Task.