Fulham draw Hornets' sting

Fulham made it through to the fourth round of the FA Cup following a 2-0 win over Watford at Craven Cottage.

A game that rarely threatened to catch fire was settled by strikes in either half from Moritz Volz - his first for The Cottagers - and Tomasz Radzinski.

Whilst never being outplayed, Watford failed to really threaten the Fulham goal, and will be hoping for a more potent display in their Carling Cup semi-final second leg with Liverpool next week.

Papa Bouba Diop had the evening's first shot in anger, but dragged his effort from distance well wide after four minutes.

However, the Senegal star's next contribution was more telling. It was his slipped pass that Jermaine Darlington failed to cut out, allowing Volz to collect just inside the box and drill an accurate low shot across Alec Chamberlain to open the scoring.

Watford's first effort of note came from Danny Webber who spun neatly between two Fulham players but, after advancing on goal, placed his shot too close to Edwin van der Sar.

The Championship side responded well to falling behind and more than held their own for most of the first period, but more sloppy defending almost allowed the hosts to double their lead ten minutes before the break.

A misplaced back header gave Radzinski the chance to nip in ahead of Chamberlain, but the Canadian's effort drifted wide of goal.

Radzinski was more clinical 20 minutes into the second period, though, after being put in a by a fine Andy Cole pass, the striker cut back inside James Chambers before slotting into the bottom corner from 18 yards.

Watford threw on an extra striker in the shape of Bruce Dyer to try and find a way back into the tie, but failed to create any real clear-cut chances.

Indeed, van der Sar's most nervous moment of the night did not come until two minutes from time when he had to react well to tip a stinging Neil Ardley free kick over the bar.

However, The Cottagers held on comfortably enough and will now face a trip to Derby County in the fourth round.

Fulham	Team Statistics	Watford
55%	Possession	45%
2	Goals	0
2	Shots on Target	4
5	Shots off Target	5
2	Blocked Shots	0
3	Corners	6
18	Fouls	12
6	Offsides	4
2	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0

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