Fulham 3 Blackburn Rovers 0

The Premier Leqgaue game between Fulham and Blackburn Rovers at Craven Cottage on Wednesday Nov 25 2009.

Sam Allardyce should thank his doctors for ordering him to stay away from Craven Cottage last night. The Blackburn Rovers manager is awaiting heart surgery and it is just as well he missed his team’s poor performance, with two goals from Clint Dempsey and an earlier effort from Erik Nevland handing Fulham an ultimately easy victory.

There was little early tonic on offer for Allardyce, sitting at home and banned from taking calls, by his wife, from assistant manager Neil McDonald. If the proceedings in the opening stages were anything to go by, the decision to hide his mobile was probably a prudent one.

With the festive decorations and lights already adorning the Cottage, it was tempting to suggest Christmas had come early to Fulham and that was the case shortly before half-time when, with their first real attempt, the home team took the lead.

Earlier, Blackburn squandered a chance – after just 84 seconds – that would have set Allardyce’s pulse racing. An error by Fulham’s Bobby Zamora allowed David Dunn to thread the ball forward for Franco Di Santo, and the man on loan from Chelsea should have scored. Instead he struck the ball against the legs of Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer.

Fulham responded swiftly, but Dempsey’s header was the wrong side of the left post. Errors by both sides were becoming commonplace, with another example on show when Jason Roberts failed to take advantage of a slip in midfield.

Before the break Roberts had two more chances, one which Schwarzer held easily and another that curled wide of the left post.

The decision to hide the phone became even more sensible when, against the run of play, Fulham took a 44th-minute lead. Zamora fed Nevland, who touched the ball to Damien Duff. His quick return set up the Norwegian and he finished with ease, squeezing the ball between the right post and Paul Robinson.

Soon after the restart Dempsey was guilty of another squandered chance, his header deserved of a better finish. Blackburn changed their strikers but to no avail; in the 67th minute Fulham doubled their advantage when Duff’s cross eluded the defence and allowed Dempsey to atone for his earlier misses with a simple tap-in.

And Dempsey completed the victory three minutes from the end, from Simon Davies’s pass.

Fulham (4-4-2): Schwarzer; Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky; Dempsey, Greening (Etuhu 81), Baird, Duff (Davies 85); Zamora (Gera 59), Nevland. Subs: Zuberbühler (g), Seol, Smalling, Dikgacoi.

Blackburn (4-1-3-2): Robinson; Jacobsen, Samba, Nelsen, Chimbonda; Grella; Andrews, Dunn, Diouf; Roberts (McCarthy 66), Di Santo (Kalinic 66). Subs: Brown (g), Pedersen, Nzonzi, Hoilett, Salgado.

Referee: S Attwell (Warwicks).