Bullard lands his own sucker punch

JIMMY BULLARD was on the receiving end of a beating from his own team mate in midweek, but he was the one handing one out to Aston Villa.

The Fulham midfielder had a visible bruise across his nose after an altercation in training with Chris Baird. However, Fulham, and in particular Bullard, showed no signs of disharmony as they battled hard to give manager Roy Hodgson his first win since taking charge at Craven Cottage.

The 29-year-old curled in a 25-yard free-kick with only three minutes remaining to condemn Villa and help relegation-threatened Fulham record their first win in 15 games.

It was no less than the Londoners deserved after a gritty showing which was widely appreciated by Hodgson, who now wants this performance to be a benchmark for his players.

“It was a great goal by Jimmy which was worthy of the victory. I am very pleased as this is the first step on the road to recovery as we have got ourselves closer to the other teams in front of us,” he said.

“We have to give Jimmy credit. He had an injury that a lesser player might have not thought they could recover from but he has come back to play at the highest level.

“I was delighted though that we could match Villa. We were not out-played and controlled the game quite well.

“It is important that this level of performance is maintained over the next 13 games and we should even hope to improve on it.”

Fulham set the tone from the start when Clint Dempsey saw his effort clawed off the line by Wilfred Bouma and they continued to dominate possession through the industrious Bullard and Dempsey.

Bullard proved there were no ill effects from the knee injury which forced him to miss 16 months of football by darting around Craven Cottage like a man possessed.

Meanwhile, Dempsey – complete with his bright orange boots – was the creative source which Fulham have been craving. Such was their dominance that Villa’s Nigel Reo-Coker and Gareth Barry were largely anonymous in the first half.

But for all their effort, Fulham were unable to make the decisive breakthrough and it was Villa who were left cursing their luck after Shaun Maloney failed to capitalise on two errors by Baird.

Villa, and Gabriel Agbonlahor in particular, suffered a cruel blow shortly before the break when the striker was injured in a tackle with Simon Davies. Agbonlahor had been selected in Fabio Capello’s England squad to take on Switzerland in a friendly on Wednesday. However, the 21-year-old will now miss out on making his England debut due to a hamstring strain.

Villa took the lead when Aaron Hughes turned the ball past Antti Niemi in the 68th minute. The Northern Irish international haplessly swung his boot at Maloney’s corner in an attempt to clear the ball but instead put it into the roof of the net.

Yet Fulham drew level when Davies kept his cool to fire in from Bullard’s neat pass in the 73rd minute.

There was a final sting in the tail for Villa, who went into this match hoping to move up to fourth, when Bullard sealed their fate with deft free-kick after Diomansky Kamara was fouled by Curtis Davis.

“Today was an opportunity for us, but we did not take it,” O’Neill admitted. “We had gone unbeaten in eight games, so confidence was high and we were playing for fourth place, but there are no excuses.”

FULHAM (4-5-1): Niemi 7, Baird 4, Hughes 5, Hangeland 7, Konchesky 6, Dempsey 8, (Kamara 80, 5) 7, Murphy 7, Andreasen 7, Bullard 9, Davies 7, Nevland 6 (McBride 70, 5).

Subs Not Used: Keller, Volz, Bocanegra.

ASTON VILLA (4-4-2): Carson 5, Mellberg 6, Davies 5 (Osbourne 90) 5, Laursen 7, Bouma 6, (Gardner 87, 5), Petrov 4, Reo-Coker 5, Barry 6, Maloney 7, Agbonlahor 6 (Harewood 46, 7), Carew 6.

Subs Not Used: Taylor, Knight

REFEREE: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 8: Kept the game flowing and was both strong and fair with his decision making. Did not put a foot wrong all match.

MATCH RATING: **** Roy Hodgson said that if his side did avoid relegation from the Premier League then it would be a modern-day Great Escape. If they keep playing like this they have every chance.