Fulham lead at half-time

Fulham 1, Charlton 0 (half-time)

Facundo Sava fired Fulham in front against Charlton at half-time at Loftus Road.

Sava - nicknamed the Wolfman - celebrated by pulling a black face mask from his sock, strapping it over his ears and racing to the crowd.

The striker, who wore wolf headgear to mark his goals at his old team Gimnasia La Plata, tucked home Dean Kiely's parry from Steed Malbranque's shot.

Fulham started like a steam train and were desperately close to scoring twice in the first three minutes.

First, Steve Marlet met Malbranque's left-wing free-kick with a glancing header which cannoned into the far post, back onto his head and over the crossbar.

Then Luis Boa Morte scooped over a cross from the left and Sava's close-range header looped just over Kiely's crossbar.

Charlton should have taken the lead when Jason Euell benefited from a lucky deflection inside the Cottagers penalty area but chose to square the ball rather than shoot.

Charlton's Shaun Bartlett flashed a drive over the top after a Zat Knight and Andy Melville mix-up in the 13th minute while Boa Morte fired just past the far post after a great run down the inside-left channel.

Addicks' centre-back Mark Fish sailed close to the wind with 18 minutes on the clock, shoulder-barging Marlet to the floor as he raced onto Malbranque's threaded through-ball.

The French striker did appear to fall rather easily however and referee Jeff Winter ignored furious Fulham claims for a foul with Marlet racing in on goal.

Jean Tigana's men were in the ascendancy now, with Malbranque's clever passes in behind the Charlton backline and Boa Morte's threatening runs on the left appearing the most likely source of the opening goal.

The pace had slackened as the half wore on, although Euell injected some life into the game when he jinked inside Sylvain Legwinski and Knight in the 35th minute - but disappointingly curled his shot into Edwin van der Sar's midriff.

The first goal did arrive 60 seconds later - but at the other end. Malbranque had a pot-shot from 20 yards and Kiely pushed the ball straight to Sava, who scored easily from six yards.

And the Argentinian delighted Fulham's fans as he celebrated by pulling a black face mask from his sock, strapping it over his ears and racing to the crowd.

Van der Sar made an incredible mistake on the stroke of half-time, rolling the ball straight to Charlton's John Robinson.

He squared it to Euell, who - when faced only with van der Sar - saved the keeper's blushes by again declining to shoot and instead returning a poor pass to Robinson. He shot and van der Sar saved.