Bobby Zamora did his England chances no harm as he fired Fulham
into the FA Cup fourth round in a scrappy 1-0 home win over
Swindon.
Zamora coolly lifted the ball over David Lucas to score the
winner after 16 minutes, his fourth goal in five games.
Swindon threatened Mark Schwarzer's goal on a number of
occasions and Andy Johnson failed to convert a second-half penalty
on his first start since October.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson was looking to earn his first win
since signing a new 12-month rolling contract this week and
welcomed back Johnson to make his first start in three months after
to a groin injury. The 62-year-old made four other changes to the
side that lost to Chelsea last week while Brede Hangeland and
captain Danny Murphy did not make the matchday squad.
Opposite number Danny Wilson faced the tough task of turning
over a side 41 places above them in the league standings. To help
his cause, 6,500 travelling Swindon fans made the trip to London to
support the League One side on a sunny day at Craven Cottage. He
brought in striker Daniel Ward to join Billy Paynter up front as
the Robins looked to reach the fourth round of the competition for
the first time since 1996.
Fulham started the brighter of the two sides and took only
two minutes to create the first chance when the Robins' defence
backed off the advancing Bjorn Helge Riise before he laid the ball
off to the in-form Zamora.
The former Spurs striker paused and dummied a challenge but
could only shoot wide of David Lucas' goal from 10 yards when he
should have hit the target. Zamora soon made amends for the miss
however when he gave Fulham the lead after 16 minutes.
The striker latched onto Stephen Kelly's long ball and chose
to stand his ground despite strong pressure from Swindon captain
Gordon Greer before calmly lifting the ball over Lucas. Swindon
almost restored parity soon after but Schwarzer saved from
Paynter's shot from the edge of the area.
Johnson was clearly ready to make an impression after such a
long lay off and he almost doubled Fulham's lead in the 30th minute
when he came inches away from turning in Paul Konchesky's cross.
Swindon's physical presence up front was causing problems for
Fulham's defence.
Target man Paynter was the main source of attack for Swindon
and he calmly controlled Kevin Amankwaah's cross before turning and
shooting just over the bar in the 38th minute. Paynter then
shrugged off a challenge from Aaron Hughes, captaining the Fulham
side in the absence of Murphy, and laid the ball off to Jonathan
Douglas but he missed the target.
Zamora and Johnson, working well in tandem up front, both had
chances to double Fulham's lead just before the break but the home
side went in 1-0 up after 45 minutes. Swindon looked to catch the
home side off guard early in the second half and Ben Hutchinson
should have done better when he curled a tame shot at Mark
Schwarzer from inside the box.
Paynter was once again proving a menace up front for Swindon
and he won a free kick on the edge of box from which Alan Sheehan
tested Schwarzer. Fulham broke once more shortly after and earned a
penalty when Johnson was brought down in the box by the advancing
Lucas, who was lucky to receive only a booking for the foul.
Johnson picked himself up but his tame penalty was easily
saved by the former Sheffield Wednesday stopper to his right and
Swindon were let off the hook.
Lucas was called into action shortly after when he came out
to foil Dempsey after a neat turn on the edge of the box. Johnson
pulled away from his marker with 13 minutes left but his fierce
shot sailed just wide of Lucas' goal.
That was the striker's last meaningful contribution as he
left the pitch to a standing ovation after being replaced by Zoltan
Gera. Wilson threw on youngster Lloyd Macklin in a bid to add life
into his attack but Fulham's defensive pair of Chris Smalling and
Hughes thwarted any attacks from the Robins.
Paynter continued to press but he could not find a way
through and it was Hodgson's side that went into the hat for the
fourth-round draw.
