Duff on target as brave Accrington give Fulham a fright

WHO said romance was dead?

For an hour, Accrington Stanley dared to dream of causing an FA Cup upset against Fulham, hassling and harrying with a tenacity that befitted this tumultuous tie. Class eventually told, but Stanley emerged with credit.

In typical FA Cup fashion, the game pitted two sides separated by 70 places in the football league pyramid. It was princes versus paupers – Europa League competitors against Johnston’s Paint Trophy also-rans.

Accrington almost went out of business last year. They survived, just, but times are still hard. The club have already been subject to two winding up orders this season and new chairman Ilyas Khan has bailed the club out twice. A transfer embargo still shackles the club, who owe £50,000 to the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Their dreams of a crucial £90,000 payday were in the balance after Michael Symes equalised for the minnows following Erik Nevland’s opener, but Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff and Hungary’s Zoltan Gera ensured there was to be no fairytale ending.

The prize money will be small change to Fulham – it would have been life-changing for John Coleman’s side. They have amassed a much-needed cash injection following their run to the fourth round for the first time in 51 years, but there will be regrets.

The tie turned on its head just before half-time, with the teams level. Darran Kempson, already on a yellow, recklessly challenged Gera right in front of referee Stuart Attwell. On a red letter day for Stanley, the red mist descended and Kempson trudged off.

Coleman opted against berating the referee, instead focusing on his side’s resilient display. He said: “I thought it was a travesty to be at 1-1 at half time – we played them off the park.

“I am not going to comment on the referee because I might get in trouble. I’m disappointed, I reckon if we had 11 men, we could have won it.”

Stanley held out until the 60th minute as Duff profited from a momentary lapse in concentration to squeeze his shot past Dean Bouzanis. Gera then gave the scoreline a flattering outlook when he volleyed home on 81 minutes.

“Our inclination was that they would be a ‘long ball’ type of team but they were not,” said Fulham manager Roy Hodgson.

“They played good football and this was a good experience for us. We are spoiled with our pitches in the Premier League so it was good to sample this sort of test. Their goal was bad from our point of view as it came from a mistake but we composed ourselves in the second half and thankfully it turned out okay.”

ACCRINGTON STANLEY (4-4-2): Bouzanis; Kempton, Edwards, Winnard, Lees; Procter, Miles (Joyce 85), Ryan, McConville (Kee 63); Grant, Symes

FULHAM (4-5-1): Schwarzer; Kelly, Hangeland, Hughes, Kallio; (Elm 56)Baird, Gera, (Davies 84), Murphy, Duff (Dikgacoi 68), Riise; Nevland.