WITH Thaksin Shinawatra in town for his summit meeting with manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, the former England coach could have done without his team capitulating to a Fulham side that had one foot in the Championship until a remarkable comeback brought them three goals in the last 20 minutes. When Shinawatra wrote in the programme of his love of exciting football this was presumably not the kind of thing that he had in mind.

Fulham looked as good as relegated when City strolled their way to a two-goal lead by half-time and despite the chairman’s recent announcement that he would be assessing the state of the club and the people involved at the end of the season, Eriksson was no doubt sitting comfortably enough in the dugout.

The former Thai prime minister had stopped short of giving Eriksson a glowing endorsement in his initial assessment of his first 12 months at the City of Manchester Stadium but suggested that his position was not under immediate threat.

“Sven asked me where we will go next season and I said that we will definitely go to Europe,” wrote Shinawatra. “I am very happy with the foundations that we have laid down in this, my first season. But we still have to improve a lot more.”

The chairman, who will sanction three new signings in the summer without throwing significant amounts of money the manager’s way, also praised Eriksson’s coaching style but he must have then cringed as the players largely recruited at considerable expense by the Swede, contrived to implode at the death and allow Fulham the kind of unlikely win that could yet propel them to safety.

Eriksson admitted afterwards that a club wanting to qualify for the Champions League, Shinawatra’s target within two years, would never implode as his side did but suggested that the result would not colour his talks with the chairman when they got together last night for a gala dinner and again today.

“Twenty minutes in almost one season can’t affect anything,” said the City manager. “If you are looking at the bigger picture for the future, for next season and the seasons to come, 20 minutes can’t mean anything, but if those three points mean we lose out on Europe it’s a big, big pity.”

City’s chances of qualifying for the Intertoto Cup were potentially damaged beyond repair by Fulham substitute Diomansy Kamara who scored twice, including a stoppage-time winner. Up until a fortnight ago, Fulham had not won away all season but they have now managed it in successive attempts and could yet save themselves, with fellow strugglers Birming-ham due at Craven Cottage next Saturday before they end their season at Portsmouth.

“We have given ourselves a giant shot in the arm and brought ourselves back into some sort of contention when most people have had us written off for long periods,” said manager Roy Hodgson. “It won’t be easy to win the last two games but I’m delighted for everyone at the club that we have given ourselves some hope.”

There appeared to be none of that left when City scored twice inside the opening 21 minutes, Stephen Ireland curling in the first via a deflection off Danny Murphy and Benjani Mwaruwari rounding off a slick move with a decisive finish from eight yards.

At the other end, Joe Hart had been forced to make impressive saves from Clint Dempsey and David Healy that hinted at a comeback, the scale of which surprised even Hodgson. “When you are near the bottom of the league and playing against a quality side like Manchester City the task for the second half looks very difficult, if not to say impossible,” he said.

“I challenged the players to show their character and continue to try and play their football. I challenged them not to lose the second half but they went better than that and won it 3-0, which is something I found hard to envisage.

“I am told that we were actually relegated at one point, although I did not know it at the time, but now we have given ourselves a big chance.”

Had Darius Vassell or Mwaruwari managed to beat goal-keeper Kasey Keller early in the second half there would have been no way back but, driven on by Murphy and Jimmy Bullard, Fulham raised themselves for a belated effort that was given momentum by Kamara’s shot through Hart’s legs. Nine minutes later Sun Jihai, a weak link in the makeshift City back four, hauled down Erik Nevland and Murphy levelled from the rebound after Hart had saved his penalty.

City could still have dug themselves out of the hole but Martin Petrov volleyed wide and Mwaruwari and substitute Felipe Caicedo contrived for a comical miss before Kamara raced clear to beat Hart and complete a dramatic victory that turned the postmatch lap of honour by City’s players into more of a mournful shuffle.

“The reason we lost that game is because we didn’t fight,” said Eriksson. “We thought it was already won.”

Match stats

Man City - Fulham
Shots on target (incl goals) 5 - 10
Shots off target 8 - 6
Blocked shots 1- 3
Corners won 3 - 4
Total fouls conceded 13 - 8
Offsides 2 - 3
Yellow cards 0 - 1
Red cards 0 - 0
Possession 48% - 52%

Star man:
Diomansy Kamara (Fulham)

Scorers:
Man City: Ireland 10, Mwaruwari 21 Fulham: Kamara 70 90, Murphy 79

Player ratings:

Manchester City:
Hart 7, Elano 6, Corluka 5, Ball 5, Sun 5, Johnson 7, Fernandes 6, Vassell 6 (Caicedo 80min), Ireland 7 (Geovanni 56min, 6), Petrov 8, Mwaruwari 7

Fulham:
Keller 7, Stalteri 5, Hughes 5, Hangeland 5, Konchesky 5, Davies 6, Murphy 7, Bullard 8, Dempsey 5, Healy 5 (Kamara 64min), McBride 5 (Nevland 70min)

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