Fulham 1 Wolves 1: Solomon wonderstrike helps hosts fight back to earn draw but visitors still leave with crucial point
MANOR SOLOMON is becoming a bit of a super sub for Fulham.
The 23-year-old Israeli midfielder climbed off the bench for a third time in a row to come up trumps for boss Marco Silva.
First he did it to seal a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest two weeks ago.
And last weekend he come on to score a late winner at Brighton.
He was at it again last night as he came on at half-time after a dismal opening 45 minutes for the hosts.
Solomon repaid his boss by scoring an absolute belter after 64 minutes to rescue a point for the Cottagers.
And he became only the second Israeli to score in three consecutive Premier League games, joining Ronny Rosenthal who achieved the feat with Liverpool in 1992 — seven years before Solomon was even born.
It almost felt as though Fulham were playing with 10 men during the first half as Wolves produced another impressive performance under manager Julen Lopetegui.
And the visitors were looking good value for three points when Pablo Sarabia opened his Wolves scoring account in his fifth game since a £4.5million move from PSG in January — with a driven 23rd-minute strike.
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But Solomon’s goal changed the course of the game and it was Fulham who ended feeling hard done by — after Wolves keeper Jose Sa’s world-class injury-time save denied Carlos Vinicius.
It was an electric atmosphere under the lights at Craven Cottage with the travelling Wolves fans in full voice. They are clearly happy with the progress made under boss Lopetegui as they chanted his name.
When the Spanish coach took over during the World Cup break, Wolves were rock bottom and four points adrift of safety. Now they are 15th and four points clear of the drop zone.
It was the visitors who started the brighter of the teams and Tim Ream had to make a vital block to stop a Matheus Nunes cross with Raul Jimenez set to pounce.
Then Kenny Tete made a vital interception to block a Hugo Bueno cross after he was played down the left by Nunes.
Wolves were not to be denied opening the scoring goal.
During a superb Wolves move, Nunes’ lofted pass saw Jimenez cushioned a beautiful header for Sarabia to control the ball before driving it into the bottom left corner.
But Fulham had a golden chance to level terms when Bobby De Cordova-Reid wiggled free down the right and delivered a perfect cross.
However, Vinicius — who had a free-header — failed to get any true pace on the ball and it was catching practice for Jose Sa.
Yet, down the other end, Jimenez was unmarked when Ruben Neves flighted a lovely cross after hot-footing past Ream but he headed over.
On the stroke of half-time Willan tumbled after being caught by Mario Lemina 25 yards out.
Andreas Pereira’s thumping free-kick was superbly tipped over by Sa.
Silva made a double change at the break — bringing on Sasa Lukic and Manor Solomon for Cordova-Reid and Harrison Reed, who had picked up a knock.
But it was Wolves who continued to threaten and Sarabia sent over a lovely cross from the right which Jimenez flashed a header wide.
Yet Fulham drew level with a goal out of nothing.
Wolves gave away possession 30 yards out. Solomon strode forward, dropped a shoulder before blasting a curling effort past Sa.
The Cottagers almost snatched it but Sa made a superb save to push away a Vinicius header from Tete’s cross.