Manucho strikes late for Tigers
The Tigers were under siege for most of the second half until Manucho combined with fellow substitute Richard Garcia, who had been on the pitch for two minutes, to secure an unlikely three points.
Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson, Clint Dempsey and Simon Davies should have put the Cottagers out of sight 20 minutes into the second half but failed to convert.
Hull keeper Matt Duke had a major hand in their downfall, keeping out Dempsey and Johnson with superb saves, but Zamora will have nightmares over his botched three-yard tap in.
A solitary win in their last 18 Barclays Premier League encounters had sent Hull into freefall but last night’s victory has put them five points clear of the drop zone.
Tigers boss Phil Brown buried the hatchet with Geovanni — who reacted angrily at being substituted in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat by Blackburn — by including the Brazilian in the team.
Fired up, Geovanni was in the thick of the early action, producing a niggly challenge on John Pantsil and then firing a free-kick a hair’s breadth wide.
With Davies prominent Fulham were beginning crank up the pressure on the Tigers back four.
Regaining his composure after a string of dreadful touches, Zamora teed up Davies to perfection but the Wales midfielder smashed his effort into the turf and over the bar.
Superb approach play then created a gilt-edged chance for Zamora but amazingly he squandered a simple tap-in from three yards out.
For all Fulham’s dominance the score was still level and in the final 15 minutes the balance of power shifted.
The decisive blow came from Hull in injury time with Garcia picking out Manucho for the Angolan to score.
FULHAM: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies, Murphy, Etuhu, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora (Kamara 89). HULL: Duke, Zayatte, Turner, Gardner, Kilbane, Mendy (Garcia 89), Ashbee, Ricketts, Geovanni (Barmby 90), Fagan, Cousin (Manucho 76). Ref: Mike Jones (Cheshire).
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