MY ACCOUNT
Layvin Kurzawa and Daniel James secured Fulham’s place in the FA Cup fourth round at the expense of Hull as Marco Silva gained victory over his former employers.
Kurzawa was one of seven changes to Premier League Fulham’s line-up and was left with a simple 37th-minute finish after Matt Ingram parried Harry Wilson’s shot, while James secured a 2-0 win at the death.
Their Championship hosts also shuffled their pack but were left to rue Harvey Vale fluffing his lines early on, on his first home start, as they faded after beginning brightly at the MKM Stadium.
Silva, whose first managerial job in England was at Hull in a brief stint in 2017, rested a number of first-team players that have helped Fulham into seventh in the top flight after three straight wins.
Aleksandar Mitrovic was missing from the squad altogether and they perhaps missed his influence up top as a largely second-string Hull, managed by former Fulham defender Liam Rosenior, started strongly.
Vale, one of eight changes to Hull’s XI, was gifted an opportunity when Bobby Decordova-Reid dithered over a clearance, but the teenager prodded wastefully wide after going clean through.
Hull’s more direct approach continued to lead to openings as Lewie Coyle’s low left-foot effort was palmed away by Marek Rodak although Fulham gradually became more threatening as the half wore on.
Andreas Pereira, alongside Reid, Harrison Reed and Tosin Adarabioyo the only players retained from Fulham’s 1-0 win at Leicester, forced Ingram to tip over in Fulham’s first attempt at goal.
Pereira then ghosted into the area but could not control his shot after a cross from Tom Cairney, the former Hull midfielder captaining Fulham who started the move which saw the visitors take the lead.
Wilson collected Cairney’s pass and while he was thwarted by Hull goalkeeper Ingram, the ball fell directly into the path of Kurzawa, who tapped the rebound into an empty net via the post.
It was Kurzawa’s first goal for Fulham and stood despite Hull’s protests for offside and the Tigers were unable to offer much of a response either side of half-time, with their opponents in control.
There were several marauding runs from James but Cairney curled over and Carlos Vinicius dragged wide with Fulham unable to fashion a big chance to put daylight between themselves and Hull.
A 14,175 crowd attempted to rouse the 2014 runners-up but Fulham were resolute at the back while Ingram had to be alert to push away James’ stinging effort – the first shot on target in the second half.
Rosenior threw on a trio of strikers in Oscar Estupinan, Benjamin Tetteh and Aaron Connolly in an effort to gain an equaliser and it nearly worked as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.
Estupinan’s header had to be tipped over the bar by Rodak but as Ingram came up for the corner, with Hull going for broke, the home side were caught on the counter to ultimately end their challenge.
Coyle was unable to deal with a long clearance which allowed James to steal in and dribble the ball into an empty net as Fulham walked away with victory.
