The Tanner Report: Fulham 2 Brentford 1

Any report must start and end with Scott Parker whose game management was superb.

He confused Brentford pre-match by keeping alive the possibility of playing Alex Mitrovic. His post-match interview indicated that he could play at most for 10 minutes.

He set up Fulham to nullify the vaunted Brentford front three by denying them supply ball.

I felt if we could hang in we would win in extra time.

As it happened we dominated the first half in a cagey affaire.

Brentford like stats so what are the odds of a left back scoring from 40 yards and then adding a second with his right foot?

Tom Cairney who played a deeper role was man of the match.

In the run-in he was moving the ball quicker but deep-lying playmaker a la Pirlo was new to him.

He might have got more than a yellow card for a challenge and Harrison Reed too definitely went into a tackle with his studs showing.

When there is a stellar all round performance there is normally one you overlook for his contribution and here I would praise Tom Ream who, but for the occasional misdirected pass, hardly made an error all night.

This is the 4th Fulham Final: the 1975 Cup Final v West Ham, the 2010 Europa leagues Atletico Madrid, the 2018 Play off Final v Aston Villa and last night.

This was the best performance of them all.

Thank you Scotty.