In front of a crowd of just over 3,000 Fulham produced the performance that should ensure the second leg isn`t too testing.
As expected Crusaders put up a decent fight and at times looked as if they could snatch a surprise result, no more so than when, after Matthew Briggs had given Fulham the lead in the thirty-ninth minute, they equalised through Timmy Adamson, nine minutes into the second half.
Thankfully, our class showed and when Bobby Zamora struck in the seventy-fourth minute, a sense of reality to the occasion was restored. Even more so when Danny Murphy converted a penalty three minutes later after Paul Leeman had handled the ball.
A decent period of pressure could have improved the score-line further but Sidwell saw his effort hit the cross-bar.
Post match Martin Jol had this to say about the performance,
“It was typically British. They made it tough for us until our goal and again after the equaliser.”
“The problem is they play like it`s a cup final. We knew they would be battling for 60 or 70 minutes and then it could be over.”
“But if you score three away from home, it`s okay.”
And so the European journey looks like continuing.
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