Newcastle have been one of the league’s great entertainers this season, but there was nothing entertaining about the opening exchanges at St James’ Park.
Eddie Howe’s men did most of the early running, but they looked uncharacteristically poor in the final third, with a wild effort from Jacob Murphy that was high, wide and not very handsome being somewhat symptomatic of their start.
Anthony Gordon and Fabian Schar then both spurned half-chances to test Bernd Leno, all of which before Fulham had even a sighting of the Newcastle goal.
Fulham’s reluctance to attack was eventually punished, although there was an element of fortune to it.
Gordon was again involved, driving into the box before his cross was cleared perfectly into the path of the unmarked Murphy, who made no mistake in sweeping into an empty net.
Fulham started much brighter in the second half, registering more shots in the opening 10 minutes than they did in the entire first half, although none of them were particularly testing for Martin Dubravka.
The second half brought a total sea change, and a leveller looked likely to come at any minute for Fulham, before it duly arrived shortly after the hour mark.
A swift Cottagers counterattack ended with a neat exchange of passes around the area, and Antonee Robinson’s cutback was finished off by Raul Jimenez with the aid of a huge deflection.
Eddie Howe’s men looked shell-shocked throughout the second half and in truth looked relatively toothless in the final third, with most of their openings on goal being categorised as nothing more than half chances.
They did come close a little over 10 minutes from time, when go-to man Alexander Isak crashed an effort off the woodwork.
It proved to be Fulham who had the last laugh though, when substitute Rodrigo Muniz headed home at the near post to complete the comeback and hand them a fourth win from their last eight league games on the road.
It’s a huge opportunity missed for Newcastle though, who have missed a golden opportunity to climb back into the top four.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Sasa Lukic (Fulham)
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