Louis Saha continued where he left off last season by scoring both goals as Fulham beat Nancy 2-1 in their first pre-season friendly last night.
The French forward, who scored 32 goals in all competitions as Jean Tigana’s side stormed to the First Division title, needed just four minutes to breach the Ligue 2 side’s defence in Epinal last night. He got the Whites off to a dream start by emphatically heading home a cross from Rufus Brevett at the back post. The Premiership new boys dominated the first half with John Collins anchoring the midfield impressively and Saha spurned a couple of good chances to double their lead – shooting wastefully wide after being played in by Luis Boa Morte on one occasion.
Nancy’s best moment of the first half saw them nearly equalise through forward Frédéric Fouret, who denied by Maik Taylor’s legs, after the French side had opened up Fulham’s backline. Tigana was unable to hand an expected debut to Abdes Ouaddoh, who left Fulham’s training camp having been called up by Morocco, which meant Andy Melville was called upon to partner Alain Goma in central defence.
The most intriguing element of the evening saw Tigana introduce trialist Cherif Toure Mamam at half time. The Togo international, formerly on the books of Eintracht Frankfurt and Nuremburg, replaced the lively Bjarne Goldbaek and made an immediate impression. He easily have scored midway through the second half, embarking on a mazy dribble that took him past a pair of defenders and into the box but his eventual effort at goal was well saved.
Nancy kept pushing to get back into the contest and were rewarded with an equaliser twenty minutes from time when Laurent Dufresne finished a flowing move by powering a shot past Maik Taylor. But Saha put the Cottagers back in front just five minutes later, latching onto a lovely through ball from Sean Davis and finishing in the fashion that Fulham fans have become accustomed to. Tigana sent on Zat Knight for the final ten minutes and tall centre back, deployed in a defensive midfield role, helped to head away a number of Nancy long balls as the Whites held on for an encouraging victory.
Fulham are next in action on Tuesday night against Czech Republic side Sparta Prague at Woking’s Kingfield Road ground.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Taylor; Finnan, Brevett, Melville (Symons 45), Goma; Davis (Knight 80), Collins, Goldbaek (Mamam 45), Clark; Saha, Boa Morte (Betsy 86).
GOALS: Saha (4, 75).
ATTENDANCE: 1,587.
