Hughes sleeps easier as Davies show lifts Fulham
FULHAM 3 vs WEST BROM 0
FULHAM boss Mark Hughes urged his side to build on their recent revival after an emphatic second win in three games hoisted them out of the Premier League relegation zone and up to the heady heights of 13th.
Goals from Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey and Brede Hangeland earned Hughes’s men a first home win since October and inflicted a fifth straight defeat on West Brom.
“Draws will give you some comforts in terms of how you perform but that doesn’t move you up the league – three points and wins do,” said the Welshman. “You wake up and look at the table and to be 13th makes for better reading.”
Fulham’s victory owed much to a howler from West Brom goalkeeper Scott Carson, who gifted the Cottagers the lead in first half stoppage time when he allowed Davies’ drive to slip through his fingers.
The home side doubled their lead on 56 minutes through Dempsey’s header from a Davies corner and Hangeland put the gloss on the scoreline nine minutes later when he rose unmarked from another Davies flag kick to head home emphatically.
BLUES WIN | DANN’S THE MAN
BIRMINGHAM defender Scott Dann scored an 89th-minute winner to sink Blackpool 2-1 and lift the Blues out of the bottom three. Alexander Hleb took advantage of a defensive cock-up to net the opener, his first Premier League goal for Alex McLeish’s men. DJ Campbell equalised against his former club before Dann’s late intervention earned Birmingham are now up to 15th.