Fulham suffered the first defeat of their 2007/08 pre-season campaign on Tuesday in a hot and humid Hong Kong Stadium.
Portsmouth netted the only goal of the game at the end of the first half when Benjani took advantage of Zat Knight’s block to finish easily past Tony Warner.
The Whites had plenty of chances to find the back of the net with quite possibly the best opportunity falling to Clint Dempsey who, with the goal at his mercy, directed a free header straight at Pompey custodian, David James.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Fulham Manager, Lawrie Sanchez, was nonetheless pleased with many aspects of the display.
“It was everything you want from a pre-season friendly obviously apart from the result,” he said. “We showed good energy levels, we controlled 80-90% of the game and had the best chances. We did everything but score the goal.
“It was a scrappy goal and a bit unfortunate. Zat stuck his foot out and stopped it where the boy had an easy chance to put it away. David James pulled off a great couple of saves in the first half from Clint Dempsey. That’s what top quality keepers are paid for. Tonight it was Portsmouth’s night but I was very pleased with what we saw.
“There was nothing but positives apart from the goal – you don’t want to concede like that. When Clint missed two chances I turned to my staff and said ‘That’s the Premiership, you only get so many chances and you’ve got to take them.’ We had five new guys out there tonight and we’re learning as a new team.”
