Instant Reaction Newcastle 0-1 Fulham

Fulham got a goal from Ashkan Dejageh and Newcastle couldn't find their touch in a 1-0 loss at Craven Cottage.

The first half was, as the commentators put it, "rather uninspiring and error-laden." Tim Krul made a nice save and Papiss Cisse came oh so close to opening his account on the season, but outside of those two moments, the first half was full of not so near misses and bad giveaways. Newcastle continued to prove how vital Yohan Cabaye was to their side with a dreadful showing on free kicks. Luckily for the Mags, Fulham proved to be just as inept at corners and free kicks, and the Cottagers never truly threatened Krul's net.

The match did open up in the second half, with Fulham having two goals disallowed for offsides within the first ten minutes of the restart. Prior to the second disallowed goal, the ball appeared to be in Tim Krul's net, but the referee did not allow the goal and Howard Webb wasn't buzzed for a review. Much to the disdain of the Craven Cottage crowed, the scoreline remained scoreless. Upon review, the ball was not fully over the line.

Ashkan Dejagah gave Fulham a breakthrough in the 69th minute when his low shot got past Krul. The Dutch keeper should have had the save, but the ball dipped under his arms to give the Cottagers the lead. The goal came moments after Papiss Cisse was denied at the other end. A Fulham mistake saw Cisse come in on the keeper all alone, but Cisse could not make do with the golden chance. The resulting counter attack led to Fulham's goal.

Newcastle could not find the touches in the final third in the second half, and truly never had a decent crack at goal outside of Cisse's botched attempt.

Adam Armstrong did make his Newcastle debut, coming on with about 5 minutes left. The 17-year-old did get in a touch and a shot at goal, but it was well over the bar. Newcastle did manage a late corner kick, but it was lacking in quality. The ball found itself at the feet of Tim Krul, who had come up into the attack. Krul got a shot away, and appeals for a handball went unanswered and Fulham walked away with all three points.

There was no Alan Pardew today, as he began his suspension for the head butting incident last week against Hull. John Carver's turn at the helm saw another uninspiring Newcastle performance, though the caretaker manager can hardly be blamed for his side's lack of touches and seeming indifference to defending at times in the second half.