Livewire Tevez bursts Fulham´s bubble

Fulham were brought back down to earth with a bump as Manchester City swept them aside with a 2-1 victory at Craven Cottage on Sunday as Carlos Tevez drove the visitors to victory.

The Cottagers enjoyed one of the greatest nights in the club’s history on Thursday with their stunning Europa League win over Juventus.

But after going behind again, there was no magical comeback as they got back to the regular business of the English Premier League.

Paraguay forward Roque Santa Cruz put City ahead with a seventh-minute tap-in and the Argentina striker, at the heart of all the visitors’ best attacking moves, made it 2-0 with a well-taken goal in the 36th.

Fulham captain Danny Murphy scored a 75th-minute penalty after Gareth Barry was deemed to have handled the ball, but it was not enough to impede City’s hunt for fourth place and a Champions League qualifying spot.

The result saw City overtake Liverpool into fifth place in the table, two points behind Tottenham, with a game in hand while Fulham stay 10th.

The Cottagers were given a rousing reception by the home fans following their shock 4-1 victory over Italian giants Juventus, that saw them through to the Europa League quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate.

Stephen Kelly and Brede Hangeland were the only two missing from the side which conquered the Italians, as Fulham welcomed Murphy back into midfield and Chris Smalling came into the defence.

City had to do without defender Joleon Lescott, who injured a hamstring in the warm-up.

Tevez had the first shot of the match, a third-minute low drive from outside the penalty box which Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer did well to tip around the post.

A minute later, Santa Cruz had a looping header saved.

The opening goal came as Fulham were caught out on the counter-attack. City skipper Kolo Toure cleared a Zoltan Gera header off the line and Tevez went on a surging run, playing in Craig Bellamy.

The Wales striker’s shot deflected off defender Chris Baird and onto the post but Schwarzer could do nothing about the rebound as the ball rolled straight to Santa Cruz, who tapped it in.

Tevez tested Schwarzer with a 23rd-minute drive and should have done better 10 minutes later when he messed up his through-ball for Bellamy, which went straight out for a goal kick.

However, he more than made up for it a few moments later with a superbly-taken goal.

Starting the move, he played it wide to Bellamy and ran on into the penalty box. He brought down the Welshman’s cross and rounded Smalling before cutting it back inside Schwarzer.

Fulham tried to claw a goal back before half-time but midfielder Dickson Etuhu’s shot went wide.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson replaced midfielder Gera and striker Bobby Zamora with Stefano Okaka and Clint Dempsey, the match-winner against Juve, in a bid to shake things up after the break.

But within minutes, it was City who had two great chances to extend their lead.

First Schwarzer did well to keep out a Santa Cruz shot and then in the 57th minute, City winger Adam Johnson’s shot from the edge of the penalty box flew across the face of Schwarzer’s goal and hit the far post.

The Londoners were given a lifeline when Barry was adjudged to have handled a cross in the box.

Murphy stroked in the set-piece, but there was to be no repeat of the midweek comeback as City held on for victory.