Hall: Long journey

It’s been a long road to recovery for Fulham Under-18s defender Marcell Hall.

After signing his scholarship back in the summer, it’s been a far from ideal season for the young left-back, who has been sidelined with a knee injury for the majority of the campaign.

But Saturday’s 2-0 win at West Brom marked his first start of the season, slotting in seamlessly to the side with the best defensive record in the division, as we recorded our sixth clean sheet of the campaign across all competitions.

Hall’s Saturday shift lasted 60 minutes, and while he wants to get through a whole 90 in the near future, this was another significant step in his return after racking up 20 minutes in last week’s Premier League Cup defeat at Derby County.

“It’s been a long journey, a long process," Hall explained. "Working hard in the gym, working hard on and off the pitch trying to get myself to this point.

“The coaches, nutritionists and sports scientists have got me through it. I’ve been working on myself and how I am as a player.

“Hopefully I can continue with this journey, get more starts and keep going. I want to get through 90 minutes now and stay out there with the team for a whole game.”

The performance in the West Midlands was a professional one from Ali Melloul’s side, as late goals in either half from Tom Wingate and Aidan Evans ensured we bounced back from two straight defeats.

Hall was busy at both ends, and our Young Whites had to do their fair share of defending in the first 30 minutes, but it was a controlled performance from that moment.

“It was tough at the start, a tough place to come to and the pitch was a bit sticky here and there,” he said.

“Getting a goal just before half-time gave us a good chance going into the second-half. Getting the last goal at the end really solidified the win.

“It’s a good win to have because the games against Derby and West Ham have been tough. To get a clean sheet and a win is really important going into the next couple of games we’ve got.”

From back to front, it was a stellar team performance against the Baggies, but Hall reserved praise for three of his team-mates; defensive colleague Jon Esenga, 15-year-old Kyle Grant, who made his first U18s start, and goalscorer Evans, who recently returned from helping Canada U17s to the World Cup.

Hall said: “The players around me, especially Jono coming in for this game, really helped me. It’s my first start and I needed that type of player with me guiding me through the game, getting me through the 60 minutes I played.

“It was a great to play with Kyle on the left side, he was getting in the spaces, getting in the gaps. He’s a good player.

“Aidan, I love playing with him, he gets in the right spaces for club and country, so good for him.”