Goals from Scott Sinclair and Danny Graham were enough for Swansea as they arrested their mini-slump to beat in-form Fulham at the Liberty Stadium and move back up to 11th in the Premier League table.
Brendan Rodgers side had gone five without a victory prior to the visit of the Cottagers but produced a superb performance with goalkeeper Michael Vorm the start of the show. The Dutchman kept out Clint Dempsey’s penalty late on with the game poised at 1-0 with Graham going on to double the minutes later as the Swans leapfrogged Martin Jol’s side in the table. It would prove to be a testing afternoon for Dempsey as he went from hero status after scoring the winner against Liverpool on Monday to villain in Wales as he played a big part in Fulham’s downfall. Prior to his penalty miss the American offered a helping hand to the home side in the first half deflecting Sinclair’s tame effort into own goal. In all fairness the West London side didn’t perform that badly but just couldn’t find a way past Vorm who kept his seventh clean sheet of the season as the hosts secured a fourth win at the Liberty Stadium this season.
It was Swansea who started the brighter of the two teams with the away side still visibly suffering from exerting so much energy in the win over Liverpool five days ago. Leroy Lita had the home side’s first real chance but could only head over Mark Schwarzers crossbar after finding space in-between Brede Hangeland and Phillipe Senderos. Luke Moore then fizzed a 25-yard drive wide before Sinclair shot tamely at Schwarzer as the Swans failed to take advantage of their first half supremacy. It would be a different story after the break with Sinclair seeing his weak effort clip the leg of Dempsey and fly into the Fulham net. The England under-21 will most certainly claim his first goal from open play this season although without the American’s intervention the ball looked likely to end up in Schwarzer’s grasp.
Making amends was now on Dempsey’s mind and he almost set up Bryan Ruiz with a defence splitting pass only for the Costa Rican to see his shot saved by Vorm. Remy Agustien then rattled the visitors cross bar with a stinging 25-yard drive before the Londoners were awarded a penalty following Ashley Richards’ foul on Kemy Frei. Dempsey stepped only for Vorm to guess correctly and diving to his right to palm the ball away from goal. It proved to be crucial as £3.5 million record signing Graham wrapped the points up in stoppage time stabbing home Mark Gowers centre for his fifth goal in eight games.
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