Farhaan Ali Wahid fired home with the last kick of the match as Fulham’s under-21s won a five-goal thriller against Valencia Mestalla in the Premier League Cup at Motspur Park last night.
The Spaniards fought valiantly having been reduced to ten men on the half hour mark and twice came from behind. They looked set to earn a point against Hayden Mullins’ men before winger Ali Wahid drove into the bottom corner at the death to snatch all three points for the hosts at the end of an enthralling encounter.
Fulham made the brighter start with Tom Olyott and Aaron Loupalo-Bi linking up impressively only for the winger’s effort to be well saved by Raul Jimenez, no relation to our Mexican international striker, in the Valencia Mestella goal. Loupalo-Bi wasted a one-on-one opportunity by shooting straight into Jimenez’s legs and the rest of the first half an hour featured two cagey sides feeling one another out.
The complexion of the contest changed completely when Javier Navarro tripped sixteen year-old Seth Ridgeon as he burst through challenges on the edge of the area. Navarro was shown a second yellow card and, from the free-kick, Olyott punished the visitors even further by finding the bottom corner with a lovely, low drive. But the Spaniards drew level within four minutes as Mario Guilabert did superbly to find Mario Dominguez, who rifled into the roof of net.
Fulham replied with some inventive football but were unable to get back in front immediately. Jimenez did wonderfully well to tip a curler from Terrell Works wide of goal before Loupalo-Bi skipped round Jimenez but saw his shot blocked by Andres Caro and Olyott waste the follow up. At the other end, Guilabert beat Alfie McNally all ends up but his powerful bounced away to safety.
McNally then prevented the visitors from going in front by conjuring up a crucial save from Joel Fontanet. That let off seemed to spark the Whites into life as Ollie Gofford was denied by an excellent Jimenez stop and Works saw the Valencia keeper shovel away the winger’s deflected drive.
The pressure paid off twenty minutes into the second half when Gofford, restored to a midfield role after operating as a right back in the under-18s last year, thumped a thunderous finish past Jimenez from the edge of the box to restore Fulham’s lead. But the Spaniards weren’t done either. They levelled after a well-worked free-kick routine found Dominguez in space twenty yards out and the centre forward found the top corner with class.
Fulham’s search for a late winner was made even harder when substitute Chibby Nwoko was sent off for two bookable offences, but Ali Wahid was in the right place at the right time to drive home after Tom Wingate’s attempt had fallen at his feet in the tenth minute of added time.
**FULHAM UNDER 21s (4-2-3-1):** McNally; de Jesus, Esenga, Nsasi, Amissah; Nwoko, Gofford; Olyott (Slade 71), Works (Wingate 71), Ridgeon (Ali Wahid 82); Loupalo-Bi. **Subs (not used):** Underwood, Walters, Evans, White.
**BOOKED:** Ridgeon, Nwoko.
**SENT OFF:** Nwoko.
**GOALS:** Olyott (32), Gofford (65), Ali-Wahid (90+10).
**VALENCIA MESTALLA (4-2-3-1):** Jimenez; Prevedini, Alex Panach (Monferrer 45), Caro, Muñoz, Guilabert (Durá 69), Javi Navarro, Jurado (Trigueros 79), González (Núñez 69), Adjei (Pamies 57), Domínguez. **Subs (not used):** Gomez.
**BOOKED:** Javi Navarro, Munoz, Dominguez, Pamies, Tigueros.
**SENT OFF:** Javi Navarro.
**GOALS:** Dominguez (36, 76).