FULHAM 1, OLDHAM ATHLETIC 2
Oldham Athetic, renowned cup giantkillers in the past, revived memories of previous exploits as they won at Premier League club Fulham in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup.
It was another remarkable day for the Sky Bet League Two club whose current campaign has been mired in controversy.
But they put all the problems to one side as Fulham joined Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool to claim a fourth Premier League scalp in the FA Cup since the millennium.
It was another display oozing character as Latics fell behind early in the second half to a goal from Denis Odoi.
Embed from Getty ImagesThey hit back with a penalty from substitute Sam Surridge and late headed winner from Callum Lang whose loan from Wigan Athletic was only extended on Friday.
That was by no means the end of the drama, though, as Daniel Iversen saved a penalty from Aleksandar Mitrovic that would have regained the lead for the Cottagers late in the game.
And what a day it was for caretaker manager Pete Wild who had booked a train ticket as he had been due to join the fans before his unexpected elevation to temporary manager.
Latics kicked off with the side that beat Notts County on New Year’s Day which meant top scorer Surridge and Rob Hunt, both fit again, had to settle for places on the bench.
The first half was an even affair with Fulham seeing much of the ball, but without creating much trouble on Latics’ goal.
Latics created the first opening from a nice move down the right-hand side resulted in Lang firing a ball across the six-yard box, but nobody was there to finish off the move.
The home side had the first shot of the game as Maxime Le Marchand crossed from the left with Floyd Ayite heading wide at the back post.
That same combination provided another chance for Fulham as Ayite got across his man at the near post, but he headed wide once again.
Latics created a decent chance minutes later as Lang’s cross was cleared as far as Jordan Lyden who could only volley over from the edge of the box.
Wild’s side probably had the best chance of the half as Christopher Missilou won the ball back for Latics on the half-way line.
He sent Gevaro Nepomuceno down the left who found Chris O’Grady whose shot was deflected towards goal with Marcus Bettinelli able to scramble across to save.
Fulham took the lead seven minutes into the second half as Kebano’s cross was only cleared as far as Odoi who volleyed home.
Substitute Surridge forced a decent save from Bettinelli before Kebano missed a glorious chance to double the lead as he went running through before curling an effort wide.
Peter Clarke saw a header cleared off the line from a Mohamed Maouche corner before Clarke was fouled by Ryan Sessegnon in the box as Anthony Taylor pointed to the penalty spot.
Surridge stepped up in the 76th minute and slotted it into the bottom left-hand corner to send almost 4,000 visiting fans into ecstacy.
Fulham were awarded a penalty of their own as Misslou fouled Tom Cairney with the help of VAR to give the decision.
Mitrovic had just come on and his first contribution was to see his penalty brilliantly saved by Iversen diving to his left.
It just got better, and the magic of the cup proved itself once again as Nepomuceno crossed into Lang whose downward header beat Bettinelli .
Jean Michael Seri fired a chance over in the last minute of stoppage time, but Latics deserved something from the game, something Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri acknowledged after the game.
Oldham Athletic (4-4-2): Iversen; Hamer, Clarke, Edmundson, Nepomuceno; Lyden, Missilou, Maouche, Branger-Engone; O’Grady (Surridge 61), Lang. Subs (not used): Taylor, Baxter, de la Paz, Graham, Hunt, Sylla.