Fulham vs Hull City. The FA Cup Fourth Round.
Craven CottageAttendance15,143.
Sunday 29 January 2017 19:48, UK
Fulham are in the fifth round for the first time since 2011 following a 4-1 win over Premier League strugglers Hull City at Craven Cottage.
Goals from former Hull player Sone Aluko, Chris Martin, Ryan Sessegnon and Stefan Johansen gave the Championship side an emphatic win in the Sunday afternoon drizzle.
Although Evandro scored for Hull, their miserable day in west London was capped by Abel Hernandez seeing Marcus Bettinelli save two penalties in a minute late on.
The result means they have been eliminated from both cups in the space of a week following their EFL Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester United.
The opener came in the 17th minute when Johansen's lofted free-kick found the head of Tomas Kalas who squared for Aluko to fire home on the volley with his left foot.
Evandro did pull one back with a stooping header from Andrew Robertson's left-wing cross early in the second half but the goal only sparked Fulham into life once more.
Good work by Sessegnon saw them restore their lead soon after as he unselfishly passed the ball when clean through for Martin to score his fourth goal in five games for the club.
Martin, booed by sections of the crowd having refused to play for Fulham earlier in the month, then returned the favour to allow Sessegnon to double the lead.
Johansen's deflected effort beat Eldin Jakupovic in the 78th minute to underline their dominance and make up for an early close-range miss.
Fulham themselves have missed seven of their last nine penalties but it was Hull in wasteful mood in the final moments with Hernandez the culprit.
Having already gone close three times before the break, the Uruguayan first failed to beat Bettinelli after Kalas fouled Robertson before squandering another chance after being fouled by the goalkeeper himself in the resulting melee.
The unfortunate Hull, who included Liverpool loanee Lazar Markovic in the starting line-up for the first time, were not helped by the loss of Curtis Davies early on.
At least Marco Silva's men can now concentrate on securing Premier League survival. For Fulham, the FA Cup dream is alive and well.
