Harry Wilson hailed a wonderful week for Fulham after the Welsh international followed up his stunning stoppage-time double against Brentford with a goal just 68 seconds after coming off the bench that killed off Crystal Palace yesterday.
The winger’s brilliant brace gave the Whites the local bragging rights in a game that the Bees looked set to steal, but still had to start on the bench at Selhurst Park yesterday afternoon. He latched onto a perceptive pass from Alex Iwobi to find the net with the travelling support already adding his name to the chant that commemorates Joe Bryan’s Wembley double – and might have scored another had VAR not intervened late on.
Wilson told the press following the final whistle:
“It’s been a great week for me personally, but also for the team. To win the local derby on Monday night the way we did was amazing, but we knew football can change quick so we knew we had to be on it today. Palace are not in the best of moments, have had a few injuries as well, but we knew it was going to be a tough game. [It is a] tight pitch here … [and] the fans get behind them so we knew it was going to be tough, but I thought we controlled the game for large parts. The red card definitely helped us, but even until then I thought we were in control of the game and deserved the three points.”
A modest Wilson gave most of the credit for his incredible impact to Alex Iwobi.
“When the ball went wide to Alex and he came inside the pitch, I know he’s got the quality to find me, so for me it was just about making sure I timed my run in behind, and make sure I had a good first touch to get it out my feet, and then just to beat the keeper. To see it go in so soon after coming off the bench was great, and then I thought I had another one, but obviously not!”
Interestingly, he choose to highlight a bad miss in the first half last season at Wolverhampton Wanderers as a memory that has made him all the more determined to finish any chances that come his way. That has paid dividends handsomely of late for the club and country.
“I just keep getting in them positions. I think last year I got into them positions a lot and didn’t quite execute the finish – one away at Wolves really sticks in my mind. We were in a good moment of the game that day and I felt if I put that to bed then we might have gone on to win the game, but we didn’t. It’s something I’ve worked on … All the forward line work on that in training and you can see that, not just me, but other lads are getting in them positions, and we’re putting them away.”
Nobody’s posted anything, so I’ll say the obvious: when was the last time any Fulham star put the ball in the net four times in under 25 minutes??
What a star!