Fulham 3 Aston Villa 1

Fulham kept their European dreams alive with a comfortable 3-1 win over Aston Villa at Craven Cottage.

A brace from Diomansy Kamara and a penalty by captain Danny Murphy ensured the Cottagers overcame a poor Villa side who re-established parity at the interval thanks to a strike from Ashley Young.

But Kamara struck twice in the second half to push Fulham into seventh place and keep them on course for a place in next season’s Europa League.

Villa remained in fifth spot but only because Everton failed to beat Tottenham at Goodison Park.

Villa had the first chance of the game when Gabriel Agbonlahor fired wide after getting on the end of a headed knock down by John Carew in the first minute.

Seconds later Fulham replied with Erik Nevland heading into the arms of Brad Friedel following a cross from Paul Konchesky.

Fulham took the lead in the seventh minute when James Milner was adjudged to have fouled Kamara inside the penalty area.

Captain Murphy beat Friedel from the spot to put the home side in front.

Nevland should have made it two in the 11th minute when the ball rebounded kindly to him from the feet of Konchesky.

However, the Fulham striker curled the ball over the crossbar from just inside the penalty area.

But Villa were level in the 14th minute when a cross from Milner eluded the home defence and England international Ashley Young provided the finish at the far post.

Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer did well to deal with a cross from Luke Young in the 22nd minute as Carew lurked with intent.

But the home side almost regained the lead in the 31st minute when Kamara’s shot was deflected over the crossbar by Stiliyan Petrov.

Murphy’s free-kick found Nevland in the penalty area but the Fulham striker headed the ball straight at Friedel.

In the 34th minute, Nevland got on the end of a fine pass from Murphy but his cross into the penalty area was easily cleared by Villa.

Murphy was booked for bringing down Agbonlahor in the 37th minute as the Villa and England striker looked to break free.

Zat Knight, the former Fulham defender, was fooled into fouling Zoltan Gera a minute later, and Murphy’s free-kick forced Friedel to make a hash of his attempted clearance.

But the American goalkeeper cleared Konchesky’s corner with some authority and a fabulous counter-attack almost brought Villa a second goal.

Agbonlahor led the attack by sprinting from one penalty area to the other before crossing for Ashley Young to force Schwarzer into a fine save at his near post.

But Fulham were back on the attack moments later but Nevland could not rise high enough to meet a cross from Konchesky.

The home side regained the lead in the 46th minute when Luke Young’s attempted clearance was charged down by Kamara and the Fulham striker despatched an angled drive beyond Friedel from 18-yards.

In the 52nd minute a Konchesky free-kick found its way through the Villa defensive wall but Friedel dived low to his right to prevent Fulham going further ahead.

Villa were looking decidedly jaded and Agbonlahor failed to hit the target from 20 yards when he was invited to shoot by a back-pedalling Fulham defence.

But Fulham made it three on the hour with Kamara’s second goal of the game.

A corner from Murphy was headed down by Brede Hangeland and Kamara supplied the finish with a cheeky backheel inside the six-yard box.

Villa made a double substitution in the 63rd minute with Luke Young and Nicky Shorey replaced by Emile Heskey and Nigel Reo-Coker.

The visitors almost pulled a goal back in the 66th minute but Gareth Barry’s clever chip was just too high to trouble Schwarzer.

Milner then caused Schwarzer some concern with a cross that the Fulham keeper did well to hold underneath the bar.

But Fulham were in complete control of the game and Kamara was enjoying a particularly impressive afternoon.

The Fulham striker had been a constant thorn in the side of Knight and Curtis Davies.

But it was Gera who should have increased Fulham’s lead when he tried his luck from 25 yards. However, his accuracy was lamentable and it was far too high.

Villa continued to look for a way back into the game but O’Neill’s side had run out of ideas.

Their lack of inspiration was underlined by a tame effort from Ashley Young who sent his 20-yard shot harmlessly into the arms of Schwarzer with five minutes remaining.

# Hodgson thrilled by Kamara

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson paid tribute to goal hero Diomansy Kamara after the striker’s brace earned them a fine 3-1 win over fifth-placed Aston Villa at Craven Cottage.

It was Kamara’s first start since he damaged cruciate knee ligaments while on international duty with Senegal last June and his goals pushed Fulham back into seventh place.

Captain Danny Murphy gave Fulham the lead from the penalty spot in the seventh minute after Kamara had been fouled by James Milner.

Ashley Young levelled for Villa seven minutes later but Kamara fired the home side back in front at the start of the second half and completed the scoring with a cheeky backheel on the hour.

”We didn’t get Diomansy back from the cruciate injury he sustained until February, so he has done exceptionally well to recover as quickly as he has,” said Hodgson.

”He sustained the injury in a World Cup qualifier last June and those injuries take a minimum of six months and often nine months.

”He has been used as a substitute since we got him back but this was his first start.

”He got his chance because Andrew Johnson is still not fit and Bobby Zamora was not fit enough to start the game.

”He took his chance with open arms. I thought his performance was very good and not just with his goals. He was a constant thorn in the side of the Aston Villa defence.

”He was a model of tactical discipline and the way he played tested the Aston Villa back-four to the limit.”

Hodgson added: ”Apart from the three goals, we created other chances. It was one of our best performances of the season. The quality of our passing and movement was good.

”Our defending got better but they are not an easy team to defend against because they have two wingers.

”We played with tactical discipline and it was nice to get a good result and performance after last week’s defeat to Chelsea.

”We didn’t do ourselves real credit against Chelsea and it was strong of the boys to bounce back against another strong team today.”

Villa manager Martin O’Neill was at a loss to explain his side’s second-half performance but admitted Fulham deserved to win the contest.

Luckily for Villa, they remain in fifth place after Everton’s failure to beat Tottenham at Goodison Park.

”In the second half I thought we were very poor,” admitted O’Neill. ”Going forward I thought we were excellent in the first half and could easily have gone in at half-time in front.

”But the overall picture was not so rosy in the second half. We conceded an early goal and never really got going. The second half was disappointing, we never tested their goalkeeper.

”We didn’t play well enough in the second half and Fulham deserved to win on their performance.

”We were playing away from home and had plenty of possession, but the two halves were day and night.

”It wasn’t that we were disappointing from start to finish but by our own standards, we had a desperately poor second half. We never got into it. You would not have believed we had sat in the top six all season by our second-half performance.”

O’Neill added: ”It is a tough old season and (there are a) few lessons to be learned and we need a squad capable of dealing with not only domestic football but European ventures.

”It has been proved by the top four, who are excellent at domestic football and the Champions League, that it is a hard nut to crack.

”The top four are there on merit because they are the best four teams not only in Britain, but they are probably four our of the top seven in European football.”