Ryan Babel’s late winner for Fulham leaves Cardiff on brink of relegation

This part of west London has never been a happy hunting ground for Neil Warnock. His 11th attempt to record a league win at Craven Cottage ended in failure after a superb strike from Ryan Babel shattered Cardiff’s hopes of piling the pressure on Brighton in the battle to avoid relegation.

With two games left to play and now trailing by four points after Chris Hughton’s side drew 1-1 against Newcastle, it will take all of their manager’s expertise in escapology to survive now. Yet while Warnock refused to blame the referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision not to award a penalty in the first half for his team’s shortcomings, he did acknowledge that the death of the £15m striker Emiliano Sala in January had left his side short of firepower as they chased an equaliser here.

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from Football | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VtwZle