Blackpool 1-0 Fulham: Josh Bowler's goal ends Whites' unbeaten start

Josh Bowler scoresImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Josh Bowler moved to Blackpool from Everton in the summer after helping Hull City win promotion from League One while on loan last season

Blackpool stunned early Championship leaders Fulham to register their first win of the season.

Former Fulham youngster Josh Bowler gave Blackpool a well-earned lead early in the second half as he drove into the visitors' box and finished well.

The Cottagers, who drop to second behind West Bromwich Albion following the Baggies' draw with Millwall, failed to find the rhythm that had seen them win all of their past five matches in league and cup.

The visitors had a number of chances towards the end as Denis Odoi and Harrison Reed went close, while Bowler had a chance to make the game safe at the other end.

Blackpool's first league win since victory in the League One play-off final moves them up to 19th in the table.

Fulham were without injured midfielders Fabio Carvalho and Harry Wilson and missed their creativity as the hosts had the best of the opening moments, with Keshi Anderson and Tyreece John-Jules both having efforts that worried them.

Ivan Cavaleiro - who replaced Wilson after he was injured with Wales - had a couple of half-chances, but Blackpool's press saw Fulham struggle to establish themselves in the opening period.

It got better after the break for the London side as Josh Onomah's low drive from distance went just wide, while Bowler made an excellent interception as Domingos Quina lined up to shoot after they had gone behind.

Neeskens Kebano and Reed came on midway through the second half for Fulham and increased their attacking impetus - Odoi had a header superbly tipped around the post by home keeper Chris Maxwell while Reed shot wide.

But Blackpool more than held out as they finally claimed a first Championship win this season at the sixth time of asking.

It was their first win in the second tier since 31 January 2015 when they beat Brighton 1-0 at Bloomfield Road before an 18-game winless run to end that season with relegation.

Blackpool manager Neil Critchley told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"We knew we were going to have to play well against a very good team, but I thought we did. The longer you go without winning then the pressure builds, so it's nice to get that first win. If you'd have asked me before the game would I have expected it to have come today, maybe not.

"But this group of players surprise me as well sometimes, I know what this group is capable of and I don't think we've quite got what we've deserved in some of the other games.

"They've scored a lot of goals as well, so to keep a clean sheet against them was an outstanding effort, I thought our performance had everything - good football, a fantastic goal and then when we needed to defend under a bit of pressure at the end I thought we did it unbelievably well.

"If you can't take confidence from beating a team like Fulham then we're doing something wrong."

Fulham head coach Marco Silva told BBC Radio London:

"It's a disappointing result, a frustrating afternoon for us and for our fans as well. We wanted to give again a good result, if possible a good performance today, there were a good number of fans here to support our team, unfortunately we didn't give them that.

"We were not good enough this afternoon, it was not a good performance, from the first minute we didn't play with intensity, with pace, with the aggressiveness without the ball and with the ball that we must do and with not the quality that we've shown since the beginning of the season.

"It's a moment for us to analyse and show the players why this has happened and keep working hard to get a result in the next one."

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