Lecomte’s shootout saves spare Fulham blushes against Wycombe in Carabao Cup

Relying on penalties to see off lowly opposition from League One will do little for Fulham’s morale. Marco Silva’s team are in a sticky spot, four consecutive defeats dragging them towards the Premier League’s bottom three, and making a meal out of reaching the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup at Wycombe Wanderers’ expense was not exactly the required tonic before a vital home game against Wolves on Saturday. The positives for Fulham did not extend far beyond Josh King scoring his first senior goal. The 18‑year‑old midfielder cancelled out Cauley Woodrow’s early opener against his old side and the favourites went through 5-4 on penalties. Benjamin Lecomte saved from Ewan Henderson, Fred Onyedinma and Donnell McNeilly before Issa Diop’s emphatic spot-kick killed off Wycombe in sudden death. Related: Will Fish chips in with vital goal for Cardiff after Wrexham fail to fire in derby “We aim really high in this competition,” Silva said. “It was an obligation to be in the next round. We have to keep working. The players have to be positive in this moment. Confidence is not something that we can buy. We need the fans with the team as well. They need to make the Cottage next Saturday a fortress. We need them to push us.” These are challenging times for Silva. Fulham’s manager grimaced when he was reminded about his main striker, Raul Jiménez, going off with a muscle injury in the second half. T and the worry remains that Fulham did not do enough in the transfer market last summer. The squad is light and the injury list is growing. At least they avoided an upset. There was no hint of complacency from Silva, who named a team with plenty of experience and quality, but Fulham’s confidence is fragile and there were only four minutes on the clock when diffident defending allowed a familiar face to catch them out. The blow came from Woodrow, who was unable to make much of an impression after joining Fulham for £440,000 in 2011. The 30-year-old forward, on loan at Wycombe from Luton, had time to line up a shot and he took advantage by rasping a firm drive past Lecomte from 20 yards. Fulham toiled during the first half but they had chances. Adama Traoré – occasionally effective, often infuriating – crossed from the right but Raul Jimenez headed straight at Will Norris. King danced into dangerous positions and Tom Cairney clipped a shot just wide. Timothy Castagne missed a simple chance. The frustration grew in the away end. Traoré was given grief for ducking out of challenges and there were boos after Harrison Reed and Cairney were muscled off the ball in quick succession in midfield. Jeered off at half-time, Fulham had to improve. Hope flared at the start of the second half. Kevin stirred on the left. The 22-year-old Brazilian won a corner, and whipped it towards the near post and celebrated with King when the teenager scored with a flick reminiscent of Gianfranco Zola’s backheeled goal for Chelsea against Norwich in 2002. “He’s a lovely boy but he’s a massive talent as well,” Silva said of King. “He’s very humble – every single day he is looking to learn and improve. I’m very pleased with him.” Ryan Sessegnon, thrown on at half-time, made a difference from left-back. King, who had a goal wrongly disallowed out against Chelsea in August, continued to scheme. Cairney and the increasingly menacing Kevin had shots tipped over as Fulham pushed for a second goal. Wycombe, 17th in League One, refused to roll over. Fulham lacked bite. Jiménez going off was not ideal given that Rodrigo Muniz is already missing in attack. King and Kevin missed late chances but it needed penalties to separate the teams.