Gritty Burnley shock Fulham to climb off bottom of Premier League

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Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Burnley - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - December 23, 2023 Referee Rebecca Welch walks out with players to become the first female referee in Premier League history REUTERS/Chris Radburn
Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Burnley - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - December 23, 2023 Burnley's Sander Berge celebrates scoring their second goal with Josh Brownhill Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Burnley - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - December 23, 2023 Burnley's Lyle Foster in action with Fulham's Antonee Robinson REUTERS/Chris Radburn
Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Burnley - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - December 23, 2023 Fulham's Calvin Bassey in action with Burnley's Lyle Foster Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra

LONDON :Burnley shocked Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage on Saturday to give their fans an early Christmas present with just their third victory of the Premier League season as Vincent Kompany's side moved off the bottom of the table.

In a game marked by Rebecca Welch becoming the first female referee to officiate a Premier League match, Fulham dominated the first half but second-half goals from Wilson Odobert and Sander Berge saw Burnley move up to 19th with 11 points.

The win will give Burnley's survival hopes a shot in the arm while Fulham failed to move into the top half of the table, with Marco Silva's side dropping to 12th after a second straight defeat.

"We believe in the whole process. The performances have been there and it was only a matter of time before the results came," Burnley keeper James Trafford, who made several saves, told BBC Match of the Day.

Fulham took their time to get going but once they did Trafford was kept busy, making saves from Harry Wilson and Joao Palhinha while Alex Iwobi fired just wide - all in the span of two minutes.

There was no respite for Trafford and his defensive line, who were called into action several times in the first half as the home side's players lined up to shoot.

At the other end, Trafford's counterpart Bernd Leno was rarely called into action as Burnley struggled to mount attacks and failed to have a single shot on target.

But Burley turned the tables less than two minutes after the restart when they won the ball back from Fulham and Odobert played a quick one-two pass with Lyle Foster before curling an effort from range past Leno to make it 1-0.

A shell-shocked Fulham looked to recover but Burnley delivered the knockout blow 19 minutes later.

Berge picked up the ball at the half line, stormed through the middle and though he had support, he saw the lack of any challenges as an invitation to pull the trigger from over 20 yards out as Leno was beaten yet again.

"We started in the worst way possible, second half, conceding a goal in the first minute... Unfortunately, we conceded a second goal in a way that cannot happen," Silva said.

Fulham failed to muster anything of note after going 2-0 down as Burnley kept their first clean sheet away from home in the league this season.

"In the first half we weren't at our best. We came in at halftime and the manager and staff gave us some points on how we could really punish them. We scored two brilliant goals," Trafford added.

"I'm delighted with the clean sheet but more delighted with three points. The whole team really values wins and clean sheets. We have never really been short of confidence as a team."