Now that he’s off the mark Aaron Hughes reckon Jimmy Bullard can plunder plenty more goals between now and the end of the season. Bullard’s powerful equaliser against Manchester City, which lifted Fulham to ninth place in the table, was his first league goal of the season. He hadn’t scored with 30 previous shots.
“Jimmy can score goals, he scored a few at the end of last season that were very important, and now he’s got his first hopefully that will open it up,” said Hughes. “Sometimes if you go a few games without that goal you try a bit too hard. It was a great goal, a great finish and hopefully he can go on and get a few more for us.”
“In the middle he and Danny [Murphy] are our playmakers, they’re working hard and make things happen – they compliment each other and Danny holds when Jimmy goes off on his runs.”
They will face an entirely different challenge when they go to Stoke on Saturday, with all the talk being about the prospect of facing the famous Rory Delap throw-in. That weapon has been used to good effect against other teams and I’m sure it will be against us,” he said.
“The delivery is unique; it’s so flat, it comes so far and it doesn’t even need a touch from one of their players – it could just come off one of ours and go in. It’s a pretty awesome weapon to have. Are Fulham too weak to deal with it? I think we’re determined and I think that makes up for it sometimes. It’s not just about being big, it’s timing it, helping each other out and getting the second ball.”
Hughes’ own form – despite being beaten in the air by Benjani for City’s goal on Saturday – has been one of the real highlights of our season so far. Let’s hope he can keep it going at Stoke.
