Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Fulham
- Published
Sheffield Wednesday narrowly beat Championship rivals Fulham to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Barry Bannan unleashed a fierce half-volley from 25 yards which went in off the crossbar to open the scoring.
However, substitute Moussa Dembele equalised seconds later, as he coolly slotted home from eight yards.
The hosts won through when Lucas Joao's cross was met by Atdhe Nuhiu, whose shot bounced down in to the ground and it in to the left-hand corner.
Prior to the match there was a minute's applause for former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek, whose funeral was held earlier this week.
Fulham, who made five changes to the side that lost to the Owls in the league seven days earlier, dominated large parts of the game and managed six shots on target to the home side's two.
However, following the early departure of forward Cauley Woodrow with a foot injury, the Cottagers struggled to find a way past Joe Wildsmith.
Bannan's second goal of the season gave Wednesday an unlikely lead.
But the joy of the home fans was short lived as Dembele levelled less than 70 seconds later after Ross McCormack's shot was blocked on the line and fell kindly to the Frenchman.
Dembele missed two chances to put Fulham ahead after the break, and Wednesday made the London side pay, with Nuhiu coming off the bench to help secure a hard-fought victory.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal:
"It was a typical cup game. We knew we had to decide it in 90 minutes, we were aware of taking more risks in the last 20 minutes and we had to treat the game like a final.
"The strategy today was to give Fulham the ball. They are a team who like to play and we knew we could play on the counter. That's why we put two players up front with pace.
"We are giving a lot of problems to our opponents.
"We deserve to play the big teams at this stadium, with these fans. But at this moment we do not have a squad to play in two competitions."
Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic:
"Our level right now is to play for 70 minutes. In the last 20 minutes of games, we haven't been up to par.
"We must push ourselves in future games because we played good football for more than an hour.
"Before the Dembele header in the second half, we had many chances and we missed many chances.
"We need to play with more confidence, we need to recuperate our personality as well as our physical condition."
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