It smacks of desperation when a keeper takes a penalty in a shoot-out.
Not this game.
Fulham's Tony Lange looked to the manor born when took the third of four penalty kicks in the shoot-out replay and sent Nicky Rust the wrong way following two games plus extra time without a solitary goal from open play.
It was somewhat ironic for Fulham.
In the first round, they notched a Cup milestone that remains to this day after thrashing Swansea 7-0 at Craven Cottage.
It was and still is the biggest win over a team from a higher division in 142 years of the world’s oldest and most famous domestic challenge competition.
But nothing could separate two struggling sides in this tie.
Fulham had drawn the first match 0-0 in front of 8,052 that turned out to be the second highest Cottage gate of the season, bettered only and thanks to 4,000 Gillingham fans in April celebrating their side’s promotion from the old Division Three.
The replay at the Goldstone Ground was chosen for live TV coverage, and Sky bosses probably wished they hadn’t as two mediocre sides battered each other without getting close to a breakthrough.
Come the shoot-out, Fulham not only looked like AC Milan in their change red-and-black shirts, but shot penalties like the Serie A giants as Lange saved two before turning scorer. Three other team-mates netted to eliminate another higher placed team.
Brighton were also Fulham’s victims in the first round of the League Cup back in August, 3-0, with goals from Michael Mison, Mike Conroy and midfielder Lea Barkus in his one and only Fulham appearance in this Cup.
And those were the highlight of a desperate season that not only saw Ian Branfoot ousted as Fulham boss, but eventually Brighton gaffer, the legendary Liverpool striker Jimmy Case, who had taken over a club in financial turmoil.
This game was in December.
A month later, Fulham lost 3-1 at home to Scunthorpe in front of 2,176 - another record, this time best forgotten, and four days later sank to 91st in the equivalent of League Two, their lowest position ever.
When the two sides meet at plush new Amex Stadium on Saturday, chances are there will be more in white trying to get on nearby Falmer Station platform than the average attendance in a very average season.
Keep in touch with all the build-up and post-match reaction to Brighton v Fulham right here on GetWestLondon.
