FA CUP 5TH ROUND REPLAY - BURNLEY 3 - 0 FULHAM: Burnley breezed into the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 20 years as 10-man Fulham folded at Turf Moor last night. Stan Ternent's Division One side enjoyed a ridiculously easy passage to a last eight trip to Watford with Ian Moore and Gareth Taylor grabbing first half goals.
Drissa Diallo sealed their celebrations with his first goal for the club early in the second half as Jean Tigana's dismal side paid a heavy price for their second outing in 48 hours.
To seal Fulham's woeful night they saw their one creative influence - Luis Boa Morte - limp off to the dressing rooms in first-half injury time and had Sean Davis red-carded two minutes into the second period.
But despite Fulham's obvious exhaustion Burnley richly deserved their victory and ought to have won by more. The omens had always been good for the home side, with old timers remembering their replay win over the west Londoners in 1962 which earned Burnley a cup final appearance against Spurs.
More recent events also instilled optimism with a run of one defeat in 11 a stark contrast to Fulham's beleaguered progress towards the 20th knockout match of their season.
Burnley ran at their opponents from the start, with Dean West and Tony Grant making fine progress down the right and Moore denied an early opening by a fine Jon Harley tackle. Taylor just failed to find the lurking Lee Briscoe with a nod down from West's cross into the box.
Boa Morte provided Fulham's only threat of note down the left flank but it was Louis Saha who fashioned their first shot on target in the 18th minute when he dribbled a low shot straight at Marlon Beresford.
West set up Burnley's 27th minute opener with another fine cross which spun over Moore's head and left Taylor with the simplest of headers from close range.
Fulham briefly rallied with Steed Malbranque drilling a low shot which Beresford turned round the post and Davis letting fly following a half-clearance from the resulting corner but sending his shot narrowly wide to Beresford's right.
The sight of Boa Morte limping off at the far touchline signalled the death knell for Fulham's chances and whilst he was receiving treatment Burnley extended their lead. West again carved out the opening with a magnificent long through-ball which Moore chased towards the six-yard box. The big striker made light of his tight angle to send a delicious lob over the head of the advancing Maik Taylor.
Fulham must have already known it was not going to be their night but things went from bad to worse for them three minutes after the restart when Davis was dismissed for a reckless lunge which flattened Tony Grant.
And six minutes later Grant had recovered sufficiently to send a left-wing corner into the box which Diallo jumped to head powerfully home and put his side 3-0 up.
Tigana tried a double substitution but his side noticably lacked any of the vigour needed to claw anything back from their almost hopeless cause. Junichi Inamoto did hit the sidenetting but Burnley were unruffled and continued to stroke the ball about midfield with ridiculous ease.
BURNLEY: Beresford, West, Diallo, Cox, Branch, Briscoe, Cook (Weller 76), Grant (McGregor 90), Alan Moore (Little 82), Ian Moore, Taylor. Subs not used: Michopoulos, Blake. Booked: Ian Moore. Goals: Taylor 27, Ian Moore 35, Diallo 52.
FULHAM: Taylor, Finnan, Melville, Djetou, Harley, Inamoto, Malbranque (Wome 57), Legwinski, Davis, Boa Morte (Sava 36), Saha (Ouaddou 57). Subs not used: Herrera, Stolcers. Sent Off: Davis (49). Booked: Legwinski.
Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).
