Fulham 2 -1 Newcastle United

Again another improvement on last year's corresponding match. I was fortunate enough to miss the last minute penalty which decided the result last year, but this season's award was right in front of us.
It is Andy Johnson's first penalty win for Fulham and, unlike those won during his previous justified diving reputation, was a bang on penalty. What the referee missed though, but the whole of the Hammersmith End witnessed, was the sneaky shove in the back that AJ had given to another defender outside the box before he was chopped down within.
Both sides had slices of luck - in the first half Johnson pounced after a Cacapa clearance hit the back of a fellow defender in a dangerous position, while in the second Shola Ameobi prodded in a goal from an offside position (not that we could tell at the time back in the Hammy End). But once again Fulham were good value for their victory and Murphy's penalty was a justified winner.
This was one of the matches where I became very conscious of the important holding up role that Bobby Zamora plays. It's a shame that he can't really add goals to that kind of performance. He would possibly score a few more if we employed proper wingers making regular crosses, but with the team winning I doubt Bobby Z (or to give him his nickname of Bobatov) actually cares that much.