Playoff: Onomah seeks to re-enact performance against Cardiff

 

Nigeria born England junior international Joshua Onomah can hardly wait to re-enact his impressive performance in the second leg of the Championship playoff against Cardiff on Thursday.

Onomah scored a stunning goal for visiting Fulham at the Cardiff City Stadium on Monday night to put the team into a vintage position going into the return leg.

Onomah’s goal came in the 49th minute with teammate Neeskens Kebano increasing the tally in the first minute of the added time. Onomah who was voted man of the match did not only score but helped the team dominate the midfield throughout the encounter.

“It was a fantastic goal,” said Fulham boss Scott Parker to Sky Sports after the game. “Josh has been fantastic since he’s come here. This was the position we were trying to get him in and from there his skill and his quality comes through. I’m so pleased for him. He really deserves what he’s done.”

Onomah and his teammates are seeking to consolidate when Cardiff come visiting at the Cottage.’

Fulham are banking on the former England U16 to U20 ace to rise to the occasion again. Interestingly the odds favour Fulham as side has ever overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit to reach the Championship play-off final, and Gary O’Neil believes that second Fulham goal may have taken the tie beyond them.

“It’s a huge blow for Cardiff,” he said “At 1-0 down you feel like you’re still in the game, but when that goes in it makes your job so much more difficult in that second leg. You feel almost out of it. It’ll take a huge effort from Cardiff.

“I think the first goal is going to be crucial but the thing Cardiff need to hang on to is that 2-0 can be a tricky scoreline. You feel so comfortable but then as soon as the other team get one back, it feels an awful lot closer than it did before.

The pressure is off them now so Cardiff go to Craven Cottage and have a free hit. If they can take their early chances and come out fast again, it could very easily turn around, so this tie is by no means done and dusted.”

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Onomah who played for Tottenham between 2015 and 2019 thereafter went on double loan moves to Aston Villa and

Sheffield Wednesday before joining Fulham as part of £25 million deal that saw transfer that saw Ryan Sessegnon move to the opposite direction. He has so far made over 31 appearances for Fulham since 2019 with three goals to his credit.