Manager Reaction
Tuesday 15 January 2013 22:48
Martin Jol praised his battling side after Fulham defeated Blackpool 2-1 after extra-time in Tuesday night’s Third Round Replay of the FA Cup with Budweiser.
The Whites appeared to be heading out of the competition when Nathan Delfouneso put Blackpool in front on 82 minutes. But Kieran Richardson levelled with virtually the last kick of the 90 to take the tie to extra-time. And in the remaining four minutes of the additional 30, Brede Hangeland rose highest to head the ball home and send Fulham through.
“It’s always a relief,” said Jol afterwards. “We did okay under the circumstances against a good team with some talented players. We should have won it at home as we put so many crosses and opportunities in the final third but we couldn’t score.
“Then you have to go away from home to a difficult place. Their coach at the time [Michael Appleton] said their pitch is probably 10 times worse than you could imagine so we were prepared for that.
“But we still tried to play; that is the only thing you can do. But you still have to score a goal and a problem occurred in the 83rd minute which was very disappointing. So to see us come back 30 seconds before the end and then to score the winner was great.”
Richardson stepped off the substitutes’ bench in the 87th minute as Jol pushed men forward – and the move paid off as the former Sunderland man levelled in the dying seconds of normal time.
“That was exactly what I had in mind when I put him on but nine out of 10 times it won’t come off,” stated Jol. “He’s a quality player so I’m pleased for him. He was one of our best players on Saturday when he played at left-back against Wigan Athletic but I wanted to rest him tonight. I knew I could call on him if I needed him, though.”
Jol made five changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Wigan on Saturday, with Dimitar Berbatov and Bryan Ruiz not involved in the matchday squad.
“Berbatov felt tired – he’s played a lot of games and Ruiz had a little bit of a problem with his hamstring again,” explained Jol. “So I had to rest those two and play Mladen Petric and Hugo Rodallega up front.”
Despite the victory, Jol admits there is still plenty of room for improvement from his side, adding: “We showed a lot of character today but you need a bit more urgency up front. In the first half we had two or three good opportunities and you need to score them to take some of the pressure off. At the start of the season we were scoring goals for fun, now we’re finding it a little bit of a problem.”
