A Beautiful Day Suggests a Bright Future for Fulham

It was nothing less than a day from heaven. What could be more exhilarating than a stroll down the towpath from Putney Bridge, past the park, watching the scullers skimming by on a fast tide under a china-blue January sky, with Fulham versus Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup - a fixture combining elements of past, present and future - still to come?

Not, of course, for poor Chris Coleman, lying in his hospital bed contemplating a triple fracture of his right leg. "There's only one Chrissie Coleman," the crowd sang in the first minute of the game, sending a message of good wishes to their stricken captain. "He's an inspirational player," a doleful Lee Clark said afterwards, "and a big influence in the dressing room. It's been a hard week for the players, and not the happiest of new years."

As things turned out, Mohamed Al Fayed did well to get his lap of honor in first yesterday, trotting around the Craven Cottage pitch and waving his Fulham scarf at terraces packed with people who care only that he has given them Jean Tigana and a glimpse of beauty. Let's be honest: if he were the owner of your recently struggling Nationwide League club, you would probably feel the same.

But even in defeat, Fayed and his team's supporters had no need to feel anything beyond the most transitory sense of disappointment. On a day when the slimy surface meant no player could be entirely sure, as he swung a boot at the ball, that his standing foot would support him, the two teams presented us with a match entirely worthy of the day. Fulham provided ample evidence of the credentials that will see them safely promoted to the Premiership, matching their opponents in their ability to play a passing game at high tempo, while United returned to the FA Cup with victory in a match which reasserted the tournament's unique and ageless appeal.

This time last year there were plenty of voices to be heard trying to claim that no one in the game really cared about the competition. Try telling that to Alex Ferguson. "The Cup gives people hope and it gives them a dream," he said afterwards. Try telling it to Clark, who fought like a demon to overcome the absence of two of his regular midfield colleagues - the veteran John Collins and the young Sean Davis - and who was the last man to leave the pitch, having covered the length of the pitch to applaud the home fans for the way in which they had urged the First Division side on against the Premiership champions.

Not that Fulham needed anything in the way of outside assistance. Even though late goals have been their specialty this season, it was always on the cards that the fourth quarter of the match would expose the difference in status and experience, given that the earlier stages were played with unremitting intensity. As Bayern Munich can attest, Ferguson's team know all about the importance of maintaining concentration to the very end in knockout matches, and even beyond.

Further handicapped by the absence of Coleman and Barry Hayles, Fulham needed the maximum effort from every player, and Tigana will have no complaints on that score. Up front, Louis Saha and Luis Boa Morte gave the United defence a series of terrible frights. Time and again the pantherish Saha, currently the most thrilling sight in English football, showed his scalding pace and the sort of balance that allows him to reach out a leg and regain possession of the ball even in the act of losing it, but the clear shooting chances never quite came.

While the Louie Louie brothers were taking the eye, an even more impressive job was being done by Rufus Brevett and Steve Finnan, Fulham's unheralded full-backs. Faced with the challenge of containing David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, both stuck to the task with great honesty and persistence, giving Brevett the pleasure of hearing the "Roo-fus! Roo-fus!" chant celebrating Beckham's substitution after 83 minutes, while Giggs's contribution was reduced to a series of wild, long-range shots.

"Chris's accident knocked the life out of the club for a few days," Clark said. But the spirit and skill he and his team-mates showed yesterday left no doubt that the Fulham revival is for real, and is scheduled to provide further entertainment for at least as long as Tigana remains in charge.

• You've read the piece, now have your say. Send your comments, as sharp or as stupid as you like, to editor@footballunlimited.co.uk