Andy Melville says Fulham’s work ethic was a key to an important victory over Portsmouth that continued the club’s outstanding start under Chris Coleman.
The club captain admitted that the win has gone some way to easing the disappointment of failing to reach the World Cup with Wales.
“It is difficult getting over an experience like that. You can never quite forget it. All you want to do is get out training, get your head down and work hard and not think about, but it’s always there at the back of your mind. So it was nice to get out there and get a positive result. It hasn’t been the best of starts to the season for me, so it was fantastic to keep a clean sheet and get the win, and we can go home and enjoy looking at the Premiership table.”
A brutally honest Melville said Fulham were far from their best early on but grew into the contest and went on to dominate.
“We didn’t play that well for the first thirty minutes. We just didn’t get our normal passing game together. But we worked hard and we stuck together and we kept our shape. Once we got the goal we started to grow in confidence and we played the ball on the floor a lot more. We know we’ve got the ability to pass it around like that, but sometimes we perhaps need a little more belief.
But we got through it, and in the second half we played some good stuff – obviously we had a lot of chances late on without really punishing them. It was similar to the Newcastle game in some ways, scoring two goals out of nowhere like that. We had a word in the dressing room at half time about making sure we didn’t let it slip again, but really we defended as a team, worked hard for each other, and backed each other up. We know that’s what we’ve got to do – we didn’t do it against Charlton, but we have for most of the season and we’ve got to keep doing it.”
Melville admits that Fulham’s first target remains amassing enough points to secure top flight football next season.
“It’s twenty-one points now and that’s well on the way. It’s been a good start to the season but there’s still a long way to go and we’re not going to get carried away – three defeats on the bounce and you’re right back down there again. We’ll enjoy it, but we’re realistic enough to know that what we’ve achieved is through hard work, and we’ve got to carry on working hard for each other.”
