Match Report: Fulham 0 - Sunderland 0

The Whites have forced a replay of their 4th Round FA Cup match against Sunderland after a 0-0 draw earlier today.

Manager Kit Symons decided to place Alexander Kacaniklic, Ross McCormack, and Hugo Rodallega on the bench for this game, despite all three players' great performances in recent weeks. Scott Parker was out for this game, dude to a minor ankle injury. However, Bryan Ruiz, Cauley Woodrow, and Moussa Dembele were added to the starting lineup.

The game got off to a decent start, with a couple of free kicks for the Whites, both of which unfortunately not leading to anything. Sunderland had an early chance to open the scoring when Jack Rodwell's shot was deflected by Lasse Vigen Christensen for a corner, which didn't lead to anything.

Fulham's first proper attempt on goal came at around the 18th minute, when Cauley Woodrow launched a shot from 20 yards out, but unfortunately the shot lack enough power and was an easy save for Sunderland goalie Vito Mannone. This happened again a couple of minutes later, when Woodrow, receiving a one two pass from Christensen, smashed in an angled strike that sailed over the crossbar.

More attempts came from Woodrow and Dembele, the former's shot being blocked after receiving a pass from Seko Fofana, who dribbled his way through three defenders. Dembele's shot came from the right side of the box, but was saved by Mannone.

Jack Rodwell was shown a yellow card in the 30th minute of the game for what looked like a harsh foul on Konstantinos Stafylidis' ankle.

The second half didn't see a lot of serious action, with Fofana's shot on goal deflecting just wide.

Sebastian Coates was booked in the 55th minute for a rude attack on Moussa Dembele, and Jack Rodwell recieved his second yellow and a red card for punching Marcus Bettinelli in the back of the head as he went to throw the ball out.

Jermain Defoe, who returned to English football by signing with Sunderland just last week, was a constant threat during the second half, although he did only get a couple of chances on goal, both of which forced Bettinelli to make some incredible saves. The first was a drilled shot from close range, received from a cross by Billy Jones, which Bettinelli somehow managed to deflect, and the second shot coming off a deflection from Rodwell's failed shot on goal (this was before he was sent off), which forced Bettinelli into action, again saving at extremely close range.

Two major chances came for the Whites in this half, too. Ross McCormack came on in the 60th minute to replace Moussa Dembele, and his first attempt on goal came 13 minutes later. His drilled shot from just outside the box was unfortunately saved by Mannone. His second came in the 89th minute, but was slightly off to the right. However, the arguably best attempt of the game came from Hugo Rodallega, who came on to replace Cauley Woodrow in the 75th minute, drilled an incredibly powerful shot from outside the box, but it hit the right post, and that was that.

Fulham will face Sunderland again on the 3rd of February, at 7:45pm at Craven Cottage. Come on Fulham!