Steve McClaren made several changes for this important match and there was an air of excitement about his starting line-up, with Alen Boksic and Benito Carbone up front.
Noel Whelan dropped back into midfield with Paul Ince, Robbie Mustoe and the returning Jonathan Greening. There were no changes at the back.
Fulham started brightly and kept the Boro defence busy with their movement and quick football, but Boro settled and began to assert themselves on the game.
Robbie Stockdale twice broke down the right and delivered dangerous crosses into the box, on both occasions winning a corner. The second corner was almost converted by Franck Queudrue, who arrived late to power a header inches wide of the post.
At the other end Mark Schwarzer was alert to deny Barry Hayles when he raced out of his box to head clear.
With twenty five minutes gone Boro took the lead with a goal that looked miles offside.
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Fulham threatened to get back into the game but failed to make their chances count. In first half injury time Steve Marlet broke clear when there was a misunderstanding in the Boro defence. Schwarzer forced Marlet wide, with Ugo Ehiogu‘s help, and the Frenchman’s final shot cleared the bar.
Schwarzer and Ehiogu had time to discuss the incident as they left the field at half time, both blaming each other.
No changes at half time and Boro were back on the offensive immediately. Boksic diverted a Queuedrue shot just over the bar within a minute of the restart.
A timely interception by Ehiogu thwarted the threat of Steed Malbranque but with ten minutes played in the half Fulham drew level. Poor marking in the box allowed Marlet to head home a corner after it was flicked on at the near post.
Shortly after the goal Queudrue earned a yellow card and presented Fulham with a free-kick yards outside Boro’s box but John Collins wasted the chance.
Fulham looked the more likely team to win at this stage and Boro were thankful of Schwarzer who pulled of an acrobatic save to deny Marlet from the edge of the box.
The master stroke came with a double substitution after 72 minutes, McClaren replaced Whelan and Carbone with Szilard Nemeth and Dean Windass, the Carbone withdrawal not going down too well with the crowd, but the manager knows best.
Queudrue was fortunate to stay on the field when he clashed with Barry Hayles on the edge of the box. It seemed to me to be a 50-50 ball, but the referee thought otherwise and after stopping play when it seemed apparent that he would receive a second yellow.
To everyone's surprise he just gave Queudrue a ticking off and awarded a free-kick. Even McClaren seemed to be making plans on the touch line to finish the game with ten men. Collins wasted the chance again.
Boro almost won it with a powerful header from Ehiogu, which rattled the bar from a corner, but it wasn’t long before they had won it.
With just over ten minutes left Nemeth was put away by Greening and his low left foot shot beat van der Sar at his near post, a tremendous strike from the Slovakian who had been on the field just over five minutes.
Fulham threw on Louis Saha in an attempt to salvage a point but Boro help firm with some monster clearances. At the final whistle the Fulham players still had words to say to the referee about Queudrue staying on the field, but I call that sour grapes.
The three points move Boro up to 11th, yes 11th position, as high as we have been all season, a draw at West Ham and a win at home to Leicester could see us creating a useful cushion, but there are still plenty of points to play for.
As for the game, it wasn’t a classic, but it was better. We were more consistent throughout the 90 minutes and showed great commitment to grab the winner after Fulham had drawn level.