Fulham 1 Aston Villa 0 - analysis

The claret and blues have not won away from Villa Park since an on-loan Robbie Keane inspired a 3-2 victory over Wolves at Molineux in January.

That's 14 games the Villa faithful have travelled up and down the country's motorway network without seeing their side come away with maximum points.

Of course, it would be wrong to hold Lambert accountable for the results of predecessor Alex McLeish in that streak.

But the fact that over a third of those 14 winless games have now come under the former Norwich boss is certainly a little concerning.

Only Southampton – who have lost all four of their away matches – have a worse points haul than the solitary one Villa have claimed on the road this season, with just two goals scored and nine conceded.

Like the failure to win successive games in the league since 2011, Villa's away form is an itch that Lambert has to scratch before it turns into a full-on rash.

This late defeat at Craven Cottage was another entry in the Villa journey logbook of missed chances and hard-luck stories.

In truth, Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer barely had a meaningful save to make and, while the overall contest was a scrappy and disjointed affair, it is hard to build a compelling case to say Villa deserved a point.

Yes, there were glimpses of positive build-up play and Lambert's players passed the ball nicely at times in a fluid system, but it was a display which lacked real conviction.

There was an unerring sense that every Fulham player on the pitch knew their job down to a tee, while the visitors operated with a degree of uncertainty.

As one former Villa player at Craven Cottage pointed out in the press room afterwards, it's not hard to come up with a plan to beat this side at the moment.

Inevitably it will take Lambert time to impress his philosophy and ideas on the Villa squad and that was never going to be an overnight job. There are no quick fixes in football and patience is what is required, despite the first glimpses of unease.

Lambert ended Darren Bent's hiatus from the Villa starting line-up as he recalled the £24m striker to the team, having pledged 24 hours earlier that he wouldn't be sold in the January transfer window.

Ciaran Clark was ruled out with a knock picked up on international duty with Ireland, so Nathan Baker came in to partner captain Ron Vlaar at the heart of the Villa defence.

Stephen Ireland was passed fit enough to play with a cast on the wrist he fractured against Southampton with Marc Albrighton the man to make way.

Fulham flew out of the blocks and Villa keeper Brad Guzan made two fine saves in the opening five minutes to deny Dimitar Berbatov and, moments later, Kieran Richardson from close range. The visitors gradually started to come to life and a deflected Gabby Agbonlahor shot from distance in the 17th minute brought a diving save from Schwarzer.

Villa old-boy Steve Sidwell went close with a header from near the penalty spot shortly afterwards, having got on the end of a free-kick from Hugo Rodallega.

Lambert's men carved out another half-chance before the interval when Karim El Ahmadi's clever flick allowed Agbonlahor to escape, but his low cross was cleared by Sascha Riether who denied Bent.

Agbonlahor powered a header over the crossbar from Matthew Lowton's teasing cross to the back post 10 minutes after the break, although Villa were forced into a defensive reshuffle in the 62nd minute when Baker limped off with an ankle injury and was replaced by Eric Lichaj.

Matthew Lowton made a vital block to deny Rodallega on the edge of the area in the 73rd minute as Fulham countered and two minutes later Lambert replaced Bent with Christian Benteke.

Ashkan Dejagah brought a fine save out of Guzan with a rasping shot from the edge of the area and the Cottagers scored from the resulting corner.

John Arne Riise, who had been a menace throughout, whipped in a low ball to the near post and Baird nipped in front of Fabian Delph, Joe Bennett and Lichaj to strike a low shot past Guzan.

Villa then had a golden opportunity to equalise almost straight from the restart when Benteke got on the end of substitute Charles N'Zogbia's low cross, but screwed his shot wide.

By Timothy Abraham