By Come On Boro.com
November 19 2005

There haven’t really been too many encounters involving these two teams, what with Fulham being in the footballing doldrums for a long time before their Mohammed Al-Fayed inspired resurgence, but that’s not to say there are not matches that evoke some memories. Here are some of them, although one match in 2002 that was to end in chronic disappointment seems to stick in the mind more than most. Maybe that says something about the nature of us Boro fans...

Boro 2-2 Fulham, 24/08/2002
James Bassett

It began as a match that made us temporarily believe we had a striker good enough to fire us into the top six, but it ended up being a grim game and one which only the more recent horror of last season’s 4-4 draw with Norwich comes close to matching.

I’d just graduated from University and was hardly excited about the prospect of job hunting, living with my parents and paying tax. In fact, the only thing that had given me any reason to be positive throughout the summer was the thought that Steve McClaren had made some astute signings for Boro.

Many Boro fans – I was amongst them – saw the summer of 2002 as one of the most interesting in recent history. The ageing legs of Robbie Mustoe, Paul Ince, Gianluca Festa and Phil Stamp all marched out of Riverside (and, in the case of Festa, probably tripped an opposition forward or two on the way) and in their place came Italian striking sensation, Massimo Maccarone – signed for £8.15million from Empoli in an effort to bolster a strike force that was relying on Dean Windass for goals – and Aston Villa midfielder, George Boateng.

Geremi, after failing to make his mark at Chelsea, was brought in on loan. The big news was, of course, the return of Juninho to Teesside. Unfortunately, the little fella damaged his cruciate ligament in a pre-season friendly against Modena and was out for eight months. Still, on the bright side, it was a full four months before Boro would squander £3.5million on Ferrari-smashing lard arse, Michael Ricketts.

Fulham came to The Riverside for the second game of the season and, having failed to score against Southampton, Maccarone was already being branded a failure. You gotta love the fickle element among the Boro faithful. Still, it looked as though Boro would prove to be a hard team to beat, with Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu protected by the hardworking midfield of Geremi, George Boateng and Jonathan Greening.

In the absence of Juninho, Carlos “The New Maradona” Marinelli was afforded the opportunity to show off his sporadic talent, with Alen Boksic and Massimo leading the line.

Maccarone was in scintillating form and this game remains his finest hour in a Middlesbrough shirt. Goals either side of half-time looked to have secured Boro a deserved victory and the Italian was only denied a hat-trick by the legs of Edwin van der Sar. However, with the game seemingly over, McClaren decided to replace Boksic and Marinelli – both having fulfilled their quota of one good game in twenty – with the perpetually useless Mark Wilson and the flimsy Joseph Desire Job. With six minutes to go, Maccarone was removed for Noel Whelan. That’s right, Boston United’s Noel Whelan.

Fulham, with their three tormentors removed, seized the initiative, burst forward in the final five minutes and scored twice in injury time. The headlines that would’ve been devoted to Massimo Maccarone were suddenly focused on Facundo Sava and his stupid mask. I’d like to think that somewhere in space, there’s an alternate dimension where Boro win 2-0, Massimo gets the headlines he deserves, grows in confidence and becomes the 25-goal-a-season striker that he could so easily have been.

As it is, despite notable goals against Sunderland and Spurs, his early spark failed to ignite and he was eased out of the first team picture at The Riverside.

Joseph Job’s ninetieth minute winner against Blackburn the following week would go someway to improving my mood, but it would be December before I bothered getting a job.

Boro 2-2 Fulham, 24/08/2002
Andy Morgan/Packwolf

24 August 2002- the first home game of the 2002-3 season. We had gained a credible draw at Southampton the previous week - credible because we are usually useless down there - and expectations were of six points from the next two home games against Fulham and Blackburn.

The Fulham game was also Massimo Maccarone’s home debut and our record signing was hungry to show the fans that he was worth the price tag we had paid for him. And how he went about it!

I only remember his second goal of the game, just after half-time and at the opposite end to where I was, when the Italian broke free from the Fulham defence and glanced in a perfect cross from Greening. The optimism around the stadium was palpable. 2-0 up, dominating the game, Maccarone proving himself. It looked like it was going to be a very good season.

Unfortunately things went awry late on. VERY late on...

I was in the South Stand for this game and Fulham were attacking it in the second half. Well, I say attacking but they didn’t really do much of that for the first 90 minutes.

But as injury time approached they seemed to realise that they were losing the game and started to come at us. And from an air of comfort our defence suddenly started to look rocky. Fulham sensed this and ran at us. We backed off, practically to the by-line as a shot by Davies I think it was, was unleashed. 2-1.

And my heart sank, probably along with the rest of the stadium as well, but then I was an undying pessimist back then. From the resulting kick-off we were carelessly dispossessed, I think after the second kick or something, and for some reason you just knew what was coming. The Fulham attack ran at us, we backed off once more and from behind the goal you could see precisely where the net would bulge when this shot went in. And I was right.

Positionally we were all over the place as Sava saw an opportunity through the cavenous gap in our defensive unit. He shot whilst Schwarzer flapped, the net bulged and the Fulham euphoria to my left caused a feeling of sickness in my stomach. A two goal lead and a match we had dominated thrown away in three injury time minutes through a lack of composure.

Maccarone’s excellent debut overshadowed and a feeling that once more, it would be a season of underachievement. As it turned out, it was going to be. We still got a win against Blackburn, 1-0, and I guess all being considered it was still one of McClaren’s better starts to a season. But the way that first home game sent the fans away was not an auspicious beginning at all.

And another season of frustrating mid-table mediocrity beckoned.

Boro 2-2 Fulham, 24/08/2002
Stuart Ward

My Fulham memory comes from August 2002. It was Massimo Maccarone’s second game for the club. He got hammered by the press for not scoring on debut against Southampton in his first.

Maccarone played like a demon, scoring two goals, one in either half and we were going home happy. Oh no - wait a minute, we went home like we had been kicked in the stomach and had our mobile phones nicked by a hoodie wearing, happy slapping delinquent!

Fulham bagged two injury time goals through Sean Davis and that clown Facundo Sava! For some reason this is a match that sticks in my mind, which is a large surprise as the amount of alcohol I drank afterwards to try and purge it from my memory was simply obscene!!

Boro 0-2 Fulham, 01/09/1973
Steve Goldby

Boro v Fulham, September 1973 was my first ever match. This was Jack Charlton's first season and the Fulham game was his first ever home game as manager. It was also Bobby Murdoch's first home Boro game.

One thing that I can recall very clearly is the players running out to the theme music (The Power Game) that anyone who was there in those days will be able to hum immediately and the smell of cigar smoke and Bovril that permeated the terraces. In fact, the whole atmosphere was something to savour. I had never experienced anything like this before. It was a completely different world.

I don't remember much about the actual game but I do remember the expectant and celebratory atmosphere changing when Fulham scored and the air turning nasty when they got their second. I am sure that I didn't fully understand the ramifications that this defeat could have had for us but I do quite clearly recall the next 15 or so home games, as we never lost one of them and very rarely conceded a goal. It is probably still our finest ever season.

And finally, a couple of trips to the Cottage that instil some memories…

Fulham 0-2 Boro, 25/08/2004
Middlesboro Red & White Sox

Ahh the bright lights and dense smog of London.... just like being back on Teesside...

Start of a new season and our lass goes to her first ever match.....

Midweek game equals a couple of days off work, a train up to London and a nice hotel for the night ;o)....I've got my new Boro shirt on, our lass is panicking over what to wear (why do they do that?)... she settles on a red t-shirt.

Anyhow, we spends the day walking round London and gets the tube up to Fulham. Now I'm a big lad, 5'10 and 17 stone and an ex front-row 'ugly' with a shaved head. So we get on the tube and I see a Fulham fan right in front of me... so I ask him 'Ow mate are you a Fulham fan?"... He looks at me and shits himself..."Y-y-y-es".... "What's the best station to get off for your ground then?" ...you can see the guy physically look relieved!...

So we get off at Fulham Broadway (I think!- Putney Bridge is actually the best station for Fulham- ed) with about thirty other Boro lads and make our way towards the ground, trying to find a pub en-route. We go past a couple of pubs with signs saying 'No Away Fans' and come to one that looks ok and will let us in.

'Ow mate are we all right to come in for a pint?"... "Sorry Mate no Boro fans in today"... with that a lad comes out of the pub with a Juninho shirt on and with his mobile pressed to his head... "Hello mam....yeah I'm just in the pub now.... aye... can't wait to see the Boro win...." Bouncer looks a bit sheepish as we laugh at him and go off to find another pub. Which we do. It's a Samoan theme pub. I kid you not. In Fulham. A fucking Samoan pub.

Off to the match - Viduka's debut... a full house.... a very very vocal support for the mighty reds... and Dave 'Diddy' Hamilton has just got his job back as the PA there.... deary me...

First words our lass says "It's bigger than I imagined it". So many things I could have said, but I didn't.

First half goes in a bit of a blur... I point out things to our lass, "That's Mark Viduka.... he's a class act him".... "Seems a bit fat to me".... "Aye he is pet..." ....she sees a different side to me... pointing out that the ref may not after all be impartial... and that his parentage maybe questionable...

Second half starts.... nine minutes into it and Vid's shows his class... 1-0.... E-I-O.... "Why do you sing that??"... "I have no idea my little cherub... but we do and have done for years".... then Viduka gets substituted and walks past the Red Army.... I remember thinking to myself 'hey he looks like he's going to be a success this year'. How foolish of me.

Fun time Franckie makes it 2-0.... Fulham weren't even at the races. Match over. Back onto the tube.... after a fourty minute wait. Bastards.

"So pet...did you enjoy your first match then?"....
"Yes it was good".....
"Like to watch the Boro again?"......
"I didn't enjoy it that much...."

Harry Haverton
Fulham 0-1 Boro, 1974

I went down to London in 1974 for the Anglo Scottish Cup Final second leg. Boro had held the mighty Fulham to a goalless draw at Ayresome and we were expecting fireworks in the second leg as Boro bid to win their first ever professional trophy.

It was a bloody rubbish match, boring as a Liberal party convention and neither team really got going. Boro won it with a Les Strong own goal making it 1-0 on aggregate.

It was all very strange really because when we got back to Teesside, there was an air of indifference about the whole thing. Nobody seemed bothered really. I suppose I was a bit off the mark expecting street parades and civic receptions.

If you would like to be included in the next BLAST FROM THE PAST, just drop us a mail and we'll include your memories next time round. It's West Brom next by the way...

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