Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa

Fulham returned to winning ways as
Chris Baird's late strike ensured
Aston Villa's miserable start to the
Premier League season continued.
Baird's finish, from John Arne Riise's
corner, means Fulham have now taken
32 out of 42 points at Craven Cottage.
Villa, who have mustered only six goals
in eight games, remain two points
above the relegation zone following
their worst top-flight start since 1986.
Substitute Christian Benteke missed
toothless Villa's best opportunity.
Scoring goals has been problematic for
Villa this season and their lack of cutting
edge was painfully obvious yet again.
Villa boss Paul Lambert, who has
laughed off talk of a rift with striker
Darren Bent, restored the England
international to his starting XI in a bid to
rectify the problem.
But Bent was starved of service as the
visitors, for all their neat and tidy build-
up play, lacked penetration in the final
third.
And they were made to pay the price as
their resistance was finally ended six
minutes from time by a rare goal from
Baird.
The Northern Irish international, fresh
from his country's impressive midweek
draw in Portugal, marked his 150th
Fulham appearance in style to lift his
team into eighth place.
However, Villa nearly snatched an
equaliser within seconds as Benteke,
who netted for Belgium in their
midweek World Cup qualifying win
against Scotland, smashed a snapshot
wide from Charles N'Zogbia's cross.
In contrast to Villa's lack of goalscoring
threat Fulham looked dangerous from
the off, with Dimitar Berbatov again
inspiring the Cottagers following his
summer move from Manchester United.
The hosts were quickly into their stride
in a high-tempo start and it was
Berbatov pulling all the strings.
Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan had to be
alert in the opening stages to parry the
Bulgarian's fierce shot from a tight
angle, before denying Kieran
Richardson from close range with his
legs after intricate build-up play
involving Berbatov and Sascha Riether.
Guzan continued to be the busiest of
the two goalkeepers as Villa failed to
stretch Fulham stopper Mark Schwarzer.
But Fulham began to lose their fluency
after the half-time break, allowing the
visitors to grow in confidence as they
gained a foothold in the match.
Agbonlahor could not flick Stephen
Ireland's cross goalwards before
heading over another right-wing centre
from Bent at the far post.
Lambert would have been happier with
a point than Fulham counterpart Martin
Jol, but the visiting boss was left ruing
his luck after Baird scored only the third
goal of his Cottagers career.
And it means Villa are now winless in
their last 12 Premier League away
matches, spanning nine months, since
beating Black Country rivals Wolves in
January.
Fulham boss Martin Jol:
"It was a bit of a relief. At the end to
score from a corner kick sums it up -
scrappy. But we grinded out a result,
which is good for us.
"At home I would like to see us
dominate and get the goal - that's not
what we did today. But I'm happy to get
the three points.
"Chris Baird is very good at attacking
the near post, he is always close but he
hasn't scored for as long as I have
known him.
"I was happy to see him score -
especially because the corner kick
probably was not the best."
Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert:
"I thought some of the football we
played was great. I thought we gave as
good as we got.
"We came here, where their form has
been really good, and gave a good
account of ourselves.
"There are a lot of good things. We
have to turn the good things into wins.
But to concede from a set-piece was
disappointing."