Clint Dempsey gave another all-action display for Fulham as Martin Jol’s charges secured an important three points at Stoke’s expense on the banks of the Thames on Saturday afternoon.
A spirited first half performance saw the Whites go into the break two goals to the good, but had to survive a nervy finale after Ryan Shawcross pulled one back on 78 minutes.
“It’s always tense when you have a two goal lead and then concede one,” admitted Clint after the game. “With 10 minutes left they tried to go for it but we did a good job holding them off.
“It was very important because Stoke are so close to us in the table. A lot of the teams near the bottom played each other today so we need to try and get as many points as we can to try and separate ourselves from the bottom half and make sure we’re safe as soon as possible. Once we’ve done that we can push on from there.”
Clint was also full of praise for new signing Pavel Pogrebnyak who announced himself to the Fulham fans with an emphatic debut goal.
“It was a good finish,” Clint told fulhamfc.com. “He’s come in and hit the ground running and hopefully they’ll be more to come.”