Abby Brammell

By Ian Gibb

Testing conditions: Fulham coped far better than their lowly opponents with the lashing rain in west London


Micky Adams was given an ovation from all parts of Craven Cottage as a well-loved former Fulham manager - and then watched in horror as his team were torn apart.

Vale were swept away with two goals from Bobby Zamora, two from Zoltan Gera plus strikes from new £5million signing Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey.

Adams said: 'As soon as we saw the team sheet we knew we were in trouble. 'Lots of Premier League clubs make changes in the Carling Cup but Fulham picked their first team.

'We are better than that but we couldn't get near them. Their passing and movement were too much for us. 'They are real athletes and that's why they are where they are. We'll lick our wounds and get on with it.'

The rout began in the 10th minute when Fulham's 18-year-old left back Matthew Briggs, on his full debut, produced a deep centre from the left and Gera headed firmly down, the ball bouncing inside the left post.


Bow: Fulham's Moussa Dembele grabbed a goal on his debut


It was 2-0 on 25 minutes when Dembele tried a snap shot that bounced out of Vale keeper Stuart Tomlinson's hands.

Dembele had another go, this time finding the bottom left corner of the net. It was all over as a contest on 36 minutes when Briggs again started a move on the left for Gera to put in Zamora, who fired an angled shot into the far right corner of the net.Then just before the interval Hungary star Gera ripped a shot against the bar and into the net.

Zamora stroked a perfect free kick from just outside the area into the far left corner of the net for 5-0 on 66 minutes and three minutes later Dempsey exchanged passes with Gera before scoring with ease.


source: dailymail