Both Fulham and Reading can still dream of a Wembley final after neither took a significant advantage from an explosive Championship play-off first leg. Tom Cairney stabbed home an equaliser after Reading, who had their captain, Paul McShane, sent off late on, took the lead through a fine Jordan Obita strike.
Battle recommences on Tuesday at the Madejski Stadium. Five points had separated third-placed Reading and sixth-placed Fulham in the table but in this edgy affair the margins were even finer. Jaap Stam was reluctant to indulge in the superlatives surrounding Slavisa Jokanovic’s side before this match and the Reading manager will have returned to Berkshire with further buoyancy.
“We know what we can do and we are very confident in our squad in what we need to bring to the game,” Stam said. “The home advantage does not guarantee you a win. You still need to work hard and the only difference in these games is that it is not all about quality; it is about your mind, playing with your heart and how badly do you want to have a result? I have been there myself as well and it is very important in these games.”
There was a competitive edge around the ground three hours before a ball was even kicked. Behind the Riverside Stand spectators on the embankment of the Thames witnessed the annual Putney Town Regatta. Inside Craven Cottage a special atmosphere was unfolding, whereby Fulham were roared on by the sound of cardboard clappers drenched in club colours.
The result the last time these teams met in west London was slapped on the back of the programme. That day in December Fulham brushed Reading aside 5-0. Jokanovic, though, stressed pre-match that previous results this season counted for little.
Reading had the first true sighting of goal, when Lewis Grabban was set free by his strike partner, Yann Kermorgant, but the Bournemouth loanee delayed his shot.
It was only then that Fulham began to settle. Cairney sent a fierce left-footed effort just wide of Ali al-Habsi’s goal before the Cottagers poured forward once more, with Sone Aluko skewing an effort inches wide after a neat cutback by Floyd Ayité.
Reading, in luminous yellow, were savvy and, at times, purposefully slow in possession. John Swift was booked for time-wasting after 39 minutes. The defenders McShane and Chris Gunter were the pantomime villains, drawing simple fouls, much to the anger of the home support.
Jokanovic described Reading’s forthcoming approach as “completely legal” but insisted his team played the better football. “They put in a very strong and physical game and it is within the limits of the legal situation,” the Fulham manager said. “They arrived with a clear plan and this plan worked with them for a good hour.”
The second half started tetchily before Reading exploded into life on 53 minutes. It was the unlikely, marauding figure of McShane who drove forward with the ball, unchallenged. He sprayed the ball to his left, picking out Obita, a Royal since the age of eight, who did the rest. The Reading left-back composed himself with his first touch before drilling a thunderous low effort in off Marcus Bettinelli’s left post with his second.
Jokanovic’s hand was now forced and Neeskens Kebano came on in place of the ineffective Chris Martin.
But as so often this season Fulham looked to Cairney, their dancing No10, for inspiration. This was his 13th goal for the season but it was not exactly pretty, the captain heading home from close range when Habsi could only parry Scott Malone’s cross-cum-shot from the left after 64 minutes.
The decibel levels inside this marvellous stadium moved through the gears, an atmosphere Jokanovic said was the best he had experienced as the Fulham manager. Hearts were racing when Kebano put the ball in the net only for the linesman to flag the Congolese forward offside. Reading then went down the other end in search of regaining their lead but Grabban was well shackled by Tomas Kalas.
As both teams attempted to swing the pendulum in their favour, a spicy finale ensued. Obita, who left the field on a stretcher with a suspected ankle injury, clashed with Ryan Fredericks inside the box before McShane was given a straight red card for a high lunge on the midfielder Kevin McDonald with 10 minutes to play. As Reading battled on without their captain, Fulham sensed blood but even with five minutes of stoppage time, they could not find a winner.
