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Fulham kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 victory over Southend United at Root Hall on Tuesday evening. The Whites secured the win thanks to goals from Erik Nevland and Danny Murphy.
Speaking after the match, Manager Roy Hodgson was pleased with the outcome of the game.
“It was good workout for us on Tuesday night and Southend gave us a really good game,” Hodgson said. “It was a good competitive match so we got what we wanted in terms of fitness and in terms of giving the players some competitive football. It was our first serious game and we needed that before the matches we’ve got coming up.”
With the summer transfer window having already seen a number of new faces join the Club, the travelling fans were given their first look at the likes of Zoltan Gera, Andranik, Lee Cook and goalkeeper David Stockdale – who played the whole 90 minutes and kept a clean sheet thanks to a reassuring display between the sticks.
“He did very well on Tuesday but he’s got a tough task to compete for the number one jersey,” said Hodgson of Stockdale. “To take the place of an experienced player like Mark Schwarzer won’t be easy but we saw enough on Tuesday night to know that we have signed a potentially good goal keeper. It wasn’t an easy match at Southend but we kept a clean sheet and he made two very good saves in the first half.”
This weekend’s forthcoming match against Celtic| could also give Fulham fans their first look at John Pantsil and striker Bobby Zamora.
“At the moment our two front players are very similar so we need a player like Bobby Zamora who can lead the line for us and hold the ball up,” Roy Hodgson explained. “He’s got a lot of qualities. He will win challenges in the air and be a physical presence in the box. We’re very happy to have him and John Pantsil – it’s an excellent double signing and I’m sure they’ll do well for Fulham.
“We haven’t given up hope of possibly landing another striker and we’re working on it. But we’ve also now got Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson back from America. We didn’t bring them with us on Tuesday night but they’ll be very useful for us as well next season.”
