Late Drama At Craven Cottage - Fulham vs. Odense BK

The Johnny Haynes Stand which housed the noisy Odense fans.

The first ever Premier League game I saw was at Craven Cottage between Fulham and Bolton quite a few seasons ago and it was enough to put me off Premier League football for a while! I'd been back since for games against Everton and CSKA Sofia and this was my fourth visit to the Cottage. All Fulham had to do was match Wisla Krakow's result against already qualified FC Twente to progress. Fulham won two nil in Denmark back in September and so they had a decent chance. Odense had no chance of qualifying and were sitting in eight position in the Danish Superliga. 

View of the pitch from the back of the Putney End.

Fulham dominate from the off and appear to be a level above the visitors with Clint Dempsey in particular looking on top form. It is Dempsey who puts Fulham in to a deserved lead and the lead is doubled by Swiss winger Kerim Frei and everything is looking good for Fulham at half time. Unfortunately Fulham decide to sit on the lead rather than push for more goals and this proves to be a bad move. Odense get a goal back through a poorly defended free kick and they equalise with the very last move of the game. A brilliant cross is headed in from close range and the brilliant Danish following go crazy. This coupled with Krakow's home win sends Fulham out of the competition they worked so hard to qualify for.

The cottage.

The nearest station to Craven Cottage is Putney Bridge on the District Line which is about a ten minute journey from Central London. Before the game we went to The Temperance which was surprisingly quiet considering it was so close to ground and on a match day. Unfortunately as it was a UEFA match there was no beer on sale in the ground but from memory they do serve alcohol for domestic games and you can enjoy a drink while looking out over the Thames.

Pre match before the Everton game.