Dan the man: Danny Higginbotham (centre) stoops low to head Stoke's opening goalSlumping out with a whimper is the least of Fulham manager Mark Hughes's worries as he fears for Moussa Dembele.
The Belgian front man was carried off following Andy Wilkinson's crunching tackle, which Hughes slammed as 'ridiculous' and potentially career-threatening.
Hughes hopes scans clear Dembele of serious injury following the injury-time incident, knowing he faces a striker crisis as he is without broken-leg victim Bobby Zamora, but does not hold out much hope.
'If he's avoided serious injury then he's been a very lucky boy,' he said. 'The tackle was ridiculous at that stage of the game.
'When you're at that stage of the game and leading 2-0, there's a certain code - you look after your fellow professional.
'The lad has ignored that and he's put a fellow professional's career at risk by the nature of the challenge. I don't know what the hell he was thinking about.'
Ful of woe: Fulham's Clint Dempsey (bottom) lies dejected on the floor after missing a glorious chanceStoke assistant boss Dave Kemp admitted: 'It was unnecessarily rash. We've spoken to Andy about it and we agree that he didn't need to do it.'
Wilkinson's challenge overshadowed a win for Stoke that featured a rare goal - Danny Higginbotham's second in exactly a year - and one straight from manager Tony Pulis's tactics board.
Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer admitted culpability for both goals. Defender Higginbotham was allowed time and space from Matt Etherington's corner and he picked his spot with a thumping header in the 23rd minute.
Sorry sight: Fulham's Mousa Dembele is stretchered off with a shin injuryHowever, it needed a trademark Rory Delap long throw that was nodded in by Kenwyne Jones, with 10 minutes to go, to settle any nerves.
That meant an easy return for Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic in his first appearance since refusing to play in the last round - but it was almost very different.
Fans took notice of Pulis's pre-match plea to lay off the Bosnian. But, if Clint Dempsey pounced when Begovic dropped a simple cross with the score 1-0, even the Stoke boss may have been on the goalkeeper's back.
After a sedate opening, Danny Murphy reacted to an early Etherington challenge on Dembele and the Fulham captain angrily threw the ball towards his opponent.
Three minutes later, the defence watched Etherington's corner, after Schwarzer's misjudged call, and hardly moved as Higginbotham's thumping header flew in.
Stoke needed a second, especially after Begovic had their hearts in their mouths and a Delap exocet provided it.
source : dailymail
