Millwall midfielder Tim Cahill managed to avoid a red card for elbowing Fulham right-back Ryan Fredericks’ face during the club’s 3-0 loss to the Cottagers on Friday night.
Cahill caught Fredericks with his right elbow and quickly sent the defender to the ground in an action that went unnoticed by referee Andre Mariner and his linesmen.
The Australian international was later booked for a separate challenge near full-time as Millwall’s 17-match unbeaten run in the Championship came to an abrupt end as Ryan Sessegnon, Kevin McDonald and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored in the second-half to keep Fulham ahead of Cardiff City in their bid for automatic promotion.
Millwall will stay in sixth place after the defeat with manager Neil Harris lamenting his side’s defensive showing for the first two goals.
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“Tonight’s a great realisation for all of us,” said Harris. “The standing ovation from our fans to the players at the end was respectful to where we are at the moment, but we’ve just played against a really good team who were better than us in the second half.
“Goals win games. In the first half, we could’ve been out of sight. We put real pressure on Fulham, but in the second half, we came out and didn’t do enough to stop the two goals.
“The third goal is my fault – I stuck strikers on the pitch at the end to chase the game and we conceded. But the first two aren’t good enough.”
