Dickson Etuhu was satisfied with the result on Thursday evening after Fulham achieved a 3-0 home win in the UEFA Europa League First Qualifying Round little over a week after returning to training after the summer break.
The midfielder played a starring role in the centre of the park as the Whites’ class outshone the potential advantage of superior match fitness held by Faroese side NSI Runavik.
“Games like that are always difficult, because they [Runavik] had nothing to lose,” he assessed. “For most of them it was the biggest game of their lives and they made it difficult for us by sitting back.
“But we always knew we would win, that we’d get a few goals. I thought maybe we weren’t quite hungry enough to score more – we could have got more - but it was the first game back and we’re still trying to find our feet.
“I’m sure that as the games go on we’ll get sharper and next week, at their place, we’ll get a couple more.”
Kicking-off a new season in June is certainly not the norm, but under the charge of Martin Jol for the first time, there was no signs of anything other than total professionalism from a Fulham side that dominated possession from start to finish. And Etuhu explained that there was never any question of taking the game anything other than 100 per cent seriously.
“The gaffer made it clear to us that this wasn’t to be treated as a friendly – that it was a game we had to go and win, not one where you take it easy,” he stated. “Common sense tells you that anyway, but I thought we went about it the right way. We devised the right game plan in training and it worked out really well.”
Indeed, it seems that Jol has already made an impression on his team in his short time at the Club, creating an unmistakable mood of positivity and a feel-good factor at Fulham.
“He’s great,” exclaimed Dickson. “He’s already put confidence in the lads. It’s early days yet, so he’s not tried to change anything too drastically, he’s just getting to know the players at the moment, and the morale around the place is really upbeat.
“These are exciting times for Fulham and it really feels like we’re getting to the next level now.”
That mood of excitement was also reflected in the stands at Craven Cottage where an impressive crowd in excess of 14,000 turned out to witness what we all hope will turn out to be the first steps on another memorable European adventure.
“Every cup’s important – especially this one because we did so well last time,” reflected Dickson. “It’ll be difficult this time because expectations will be so much higher, and teams will come and play us and take it very seriously, because now they know Fulham, and they know we’re good in Europe.
“So it’s good to be back involved in it, and it was so good to see so many fans out there getting excited about it again. They gave us the extra energy that we needed.”
Not that the team appeared to need much more impetus, looking in great physical shape so soon after the summer break, and Etuhu revealed that the team’s coaches have devised a special training programme to be in-tune with restarting competitive football so early.
“The Manager and the Coaching Staff have made sure the training so far has been right for us, because they know it’s very early to start playing games,” he said.
“But it was good for me to play for 75 minutes tonight, because towards the end of last season I didn’t get to play as much, so I needed that run-out for my fitness, like all the lads did after the break.
“But we all enjoyed it.”