Bullard seals Fulham win

Jimmy Bullard's late free-kick gave Fulham a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Craven Cottage.

Roy Hodgson picks up his first win as Fulham boss

Jimmy Bullard's late free-kick gave Fulham a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Craven Cottage to help the Cottagers' battle against the drop. The first-half was a tight affair as both sides put plenty of men behind the ball and restricted the amount of space their opponents had in which to work. Gabriel Agbonlahor looked lively up front for Villa as he tries to push his way into England manager Fabio Capello's plans for Wednesday night, but he was given little to work with and found opportunities hard to come by. Bullard was his usual hard-working self in Fulham's midfield, but with neither side able to keep the ball for any prolonged period of time, the game drifted to half-time all square. The second period began in much the same way as the first, until the deadlock was finally broken in the 69th minute. Shaun Maloney swung in a corner from the right and Aaron Hughes inadvertently put the ball past his own keeper to give Villa the lead. The visitor's lead lasted just four minutes though as Simon Davies pulled Fulham level. Bullard played a delightful cross into the Villa six-yard box and the Welsh winger was on hand to turn the ball past Scott Carson. Then with just four minutes remaining Bullard won the game for the Cottagers with a beautifully struck free-kick. From a central position 20-yards out the midfielder guided the ball over the wall and past a flailing Carson to give Roy Hodgson his first win as Fulham boss.

Fast start

Fulham began the game in an ebullient fashion and almost opened the scoring in the second minute but Bullard's 20-yard free-kick was deflected over the bar by Curtis Davies. In the 12th minute Clint Dempsey's header was cleared off the line by Wilfred Bouma as the home side continued to dominate the early exchanges. Fulham continued to press forward and looked much the better side with new signing Erik Nevland a constant threat in attack. In the 20th minute Nevland rose highest to meet a free-kick from Davies but he could not direct his header on target. Paul Konchesky tried to find Nevland inside the area in the 19th minute but his pass was quickly cut out by Olof Mellberg. Fulham's clever approach work was continually let down by their inability to place the final ball into the danger area. Villa's first real attempt on goal arrived on the half-hour when Agbonlahor got clear of the Cottagers' defence and should have won a corner when his shot was deflected wide by goalkeeper Antti Niemi. But Fulham demonstrated they were still dangerous on the counter-attack and seconds later Davies failed to get his left foot over the ball - and his shot bounced tamely into the arms of the waiting Carson. A mistake by Chris Baird gave Maloney another chance in the 36th minute but again the winger failed to hit the target. Villa wasted a chance to opening the scoring six minutes before the break when Maloney's cross eluded the outstretched foot of John Carew on the edge of the six-yard box.

Wasted chances

Villa looked a little more inventive after the restart and John Carew should have done better with a 20-yard effort which failed to test Niemi. Bouma was booked by referee Chris Foy in the 62nd minute when he was adjudged to have fouled Dempsey - but the resultant free-kick was wasted. Villa looked the more likely to break the deadlock and a speculative volley from substitute Marlon Harewood bobbled into the hands of Niemi. And they got their goal in the 68th minute when Hughes - playing against his former club - turned Maloney's corner into his own net under pressure from Carew. But Fulham were level four minutes later when Bullard supplied a clever pass for Davies to curl the ball past Carson. And the comeback was complete when Davies fouled Diomansy Kamara on the edge of the penalty area - setting up Bullard for his free-kick heroics.

Fulham	Team Statistics	Aston Villa
2	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	0
5	Shots on Target	1
6	Shots off Target	5
3	Blocked Shots	7
3	Corners	10
10	Fouls	16
4	Offsides	3
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
75.3	Passing Success	71.2
38	Tackles	31
73.7	Tackles Success	90.3
57.3	Possession	42.7
47.4	Territorial Advantage	52.6