Another Nigerian player could be heading for the English Premier League before this week runs out, as former Flying Eagles’ invitee, Josh Onomah put up a sterling performance and got a goal that helped Fulham win their Championship promotion play-off first leg away to Cardiff City.
In what could see Onomah follow West Bromwich Albion’s Semi Ajayi in picking a ticket into next season’s EPL campaign, the former Tottenham Hotspur youth team player hit target along with Neeskens Kebano to give The Cottagers a heartwarming 2-0 first-leg win in Cardiff.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that Onomah first struck in the second half and Kebano added a second via a free-kick in stoppage-time to fetch Fulham victory in South Wales, leaving Cardiff with a lot of work to do to if they want to reach the play-off final at Wembley.
Before then though Onomah and his teammates will have to keep their feet on the throttle for the second leg at Craven Cottage on Thursday night, as his side could have been behind after 13 minutes of Monday’s first leg, when Leandro Bacuna hit a stinging drive that was barely kept out by Marek Rodak.
Michael Hector then reacted quicker and brilliantly on his own goal line to get ahead of Robert Glatzel and deny the Fulham striker an opportunity to slot home the rebound and The Cottagers, who were missing their golden boot-winning striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, looked to be lacked the cutting edge early on.
However, there were no signs of laxity after half-time, as Onomah scored a wonderful opener, after he rounded Marlon Pack, glided past Sean Morrison and then shimmied away from Curtis Nelson before slotting low into the bottom corner.
Cardiff simply could not find a leveler, as Fulham squeezed them out of the game, dominating possession and not giving their hosts a sniff of a chance; and they may have taken the tie further beyond their opponents in the first minute of stoppage time as Kebano netted his third free-kick in as many games, swinging an effort over the wall and beyond the helpless Alex Smithies from the edge of the box.
Onomah ended up as man-of-the-match, as his well-taken goal that capped a brilliant outing, in which he helped Fulham dominate the midfield virtually throughout the match and he provided a moment of magic with his hit on bull’s eye that will live long in the memory.
No side has ever overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit to reach the final, and the hosts’ coach, Gary O’Neil admits Fulham’s second goal may have taken the tie beyond his side, as he told Sky Sports: “It’s a huge blow for Cardiff. It makes your job so much more difficult in that second leg. You feel almost out of it. It’ll take a huge effort from Cardiff.”
