Marco Silva was satisfied with a job well done at St Andrew’s on Tuesday evening.
First Fulham goals for Jay Stansfield and Antonee Robinson secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Birmingham City, to book our place in the Third Round of the Carabao Cup.
“It was our aim to come here and match Birmingham, to try to get the job done and go through in the competition,” Silva said. “And that’s what we did.
“We made 10 changes, we deserved the win as we were the best team on the pitch. We respect the competition, we respect our opponent, our attitude and commitment was there.
“It was not the best performance for both teams, for sure, but creating a winning mentality is really important for us, winning with a clean sheet again is really important as well.
“Job done, and we prepare now for the next one.”
Stansfield’s finish was absolutely devastating as he drilled an accurate shot high into the corner from the edge of the box – the perfect way for the Academy graduate to mark his first start for the Club.
“He deserved the chance,” Silva said of the 18-year-old. “He’s been working with me since I arrived at this football club.
“In some pre-season games he did really well. He’s working really hard to get the chance, tonight he got it, and he did well.
“He scored a really good goal, and we know he has the capacity to do that.
“In those areas, if he has the chance to finalise the action, he is really strong. And he did it.
“In that moment we pressed well as our opponents built up, and we got the ball and finalised the action well.”
Stansfield wasn’t the only teenager impressing for the Whites, with Adrion Pajaziti getting a full 90 minutes on his Fulham debut.
“Again, he’s a boy that deserved the chance,” our Head Coach explained. “He’s not working every single day with us, but we did some games against the Under-23s and he’s a player that always did well.
“As you know, we have some problems in our midfield, some injuries in that zone.
“Tonight we played a fourth game in 11 days, which is many, many games, and the other two midfielders [Seri & Onomah] played 90 minutes in the last three games, Fabio was not with us as well, and of course we have to change the two midfielders in that position.
“Even Bobby played in a different position tonight, and Bobby did well.
“They deserved the chance, and these games, doing things well, making mistakes, they will learn and they will grow as football players.”
