The Tanner Report: Fulham 3 Brighton 1

Stuck on the 74 bus 30 minutes before kick off – and walking down Finlay Street in driving rain – then overcoming the initial difficulties of entrance as my pass was refused, I did wonder why I did not watch the game on Amazon in the warm.

I had invited a friend – and had another to see next to me in the seats – but above all I wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of a night game against our coastal visitors.

Brighton have yet to beat Fulham in the Premiership but – lying fifth – and having splashed out £150 million plus to give their team a youthful makeover, they would surely prove tough opposition.

Their keeper Burt Vanbruggen unaccountably passed the ball to Carlos Baleba – this was intercepted by Alex Iwobi, who then had the easy job of planting the ball into an undefended net.

It’s always tricky to score early – but can you defend a narrow lead for 97 or more minutes?

The answer was no as the Seagulls pressed and equalised through a clever placement by Baleba.

The game seemed set for a draw when Matt O’Riley – once of this parish – deflected an Andreas Pereira corner into the net. Andreas had been dropped from the starting team after giving an interview – in which he later claimed he was misquoted – that he was disappointed after prospective moves to Nottingham Forest and Marseilles fell through. He is a dead ball specialist but this was the first goal this season to come from a corner though not finished by a Fulham player.

Alex Iwobi notched the goal of the night by twisting and turning in the Brighton box before scoring. He is now top scorer and most fans’ “Player of the Season”, making up for the disappointment of his Arsenal academy teammate Emile Smith-Rowe. It is in fact Arsenal who Fulham will play this Sunday and – on present form – we will give the Gunners a game though we must watch them at corners and will have no Joachim Andersen to organise us