http://www.whydelilah.co.uk/news/05_May_2010/Fuller+going+for+goals+at+Fulham.htmlFuller going for goals at FulhamRICARDO Fuller heads to Fulham tonight gunning for three goals in Stoke’s last two games of the season.
Fuller, fresh from claiming Stoke’s goal-of-the-season award for a third year running, wants to match last season’s 11-goal tally after owning up to missing a few chances over the past nine months.
“I’m not really pleased because I’ve had more chances to score and should have done better,” says the popular Jamaican, who is his own severest critic.
“I’ve managed to get eight, but now I’ve got two more games to equal my best. That said, the most important thing is the football club and where we finish in the league.”
Fuller heads to London tonight with fond memories of the capital – notwithstanding that 7-0 beating at Chelsea 10 days ago – after his goal-of-the-season at West Ham to match the wonderful individual efforts against Aston Villa in 2008/09 and Wolves in 2007/08 to win those two previous goal-of-the-season awards.
And he reveals that illness and injury almost combined to prevent him getting on the pitch that victorious day at West Ham on March 27.
“I had the flu,” he recalls, “and a few niggles with my back, my knees, my ankles and stuff because the training pitches have been hard.
“The gaffer convinced me to go on the bench and said he would give me 20 minutes. Then I came on, scored the goal and it was tremendous.
“It’s nice getting goals playing away because it’s harder than when you have the home supporters behind you.”
So what does he remember of the goal in which he took out four defenders before wrong-footing England goalkeeper Robert Green for Stoke’s second-half winner at Upton Park?
“I was just trying to nick it off the guy behind me,” he remembers.
“Then I turned and saw two of them in front of me, but there was a gap between them and so I used my turn of pace to get between them.
“I managed to elude them and then saw Matthew Upson coming and did the same to him.
“I just had the keeper to beat now and saw him thinking I was going to go left, so I put it to the right. Simple.”
So where does that goal rank in his all-time collection?
“I’ve had goal-of-the-season at Hearts, Preston and Southampton, and three years running here, but it’s among the best I’ve scored,” he admits.
Tonight’s game at Fulham is Stoke’s penultimate fixture before Sunday’s visit to Manchester United and, having secured Premier League safety with half-a-dozen games remaining, Fuller is honest enough to admit that motivation inevitably becomes an issue. “It is quite difficult,” he says. “When you’ve stayed up, you normally take your foot off the gas and you are trying not to get injured.
“But we do have pride to play for and that’s the biggest thing in football. If you don’t have pride, you don’t have anything.”
Stoke will trot out at Craven Cottage knowing the west London venue has provided a graveyard for the likes of Roma, Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk, Wolfsburg and now Hamburg during Fulham’s captivating journey towards the Europa League final in a fortnight.
“Fulham are a tough team and they play well on their own ground,” Fuller acknowledges. “They will be on a high because of reaching a European cup final, but every game in the Premier League is difficult because it is one of the best leagues in the world.”
Fuller will be hot-footing it home to Jamaica soon after the curtain closes on Stoke’s season on Sunday, but not before donning his apron and rubber gloves to give his house here the quick once over.
“Normally I spend a week getting the house cleaned up,” he laughs. “I’ve got to get the cooker clean – and the carpets. It will take me a week to do all that.
“Then I’ll go home and spend most of my time with my friends, the people I’ve known since junior school and high school.
“Then I’ll spend a week somewhere in the Caribbean and have a week in America as well. You get away from football, but football is always on my mind.
“This summer is important for me because I can give my legs time to recover while I’m watching the World Cup.
“I’ll have to rest properly because I didn’t rest last summer and maybe that’s why I didn’t get off to a good start this season.
“I need the rest now so I can get out of the blocks like a gun.”
And his World Cup allegiances this summer? “If Jamaica aren’t in the World Cup, then I usually say I want Argentina or England to win,” Fuller says.
“Diego Maradona was my idol in football. A lot of Jamaicans support Argentina because they like to see the skilful players and Maradona got everybody going in Jamaica.”
He also got us going a bit here in England once upon a time Ricardo, to which he wisely and hastily adds: “Obviously I support England as well. Because I play here and it’s better for the league and better for the country if they win it.”
