Roy Hodgson was obviously delighted with Andy Johnson’s performance in our 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday yesterday.
Johnson scored both the goals – the second a late winner – to send Fulham into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Hodgson said:
He’s now scored six goals and provoked two penalties which Danny Murphy scored. Had he taken those penalties he would have eight goals which is a fantastic record because he missed the start of the season.
That’s what we bought him to do. He’s small in stature but so competitive. Even against people four or five inches taller, he competes with them. He’s done very well for us.
And I thought his partnership at the end with Erik Nevland was looking very promising. Bobby Zamora had a problem with his back today and wasn’t at his best.
Hodgson also reflected on the quality of the goals we scored.
The passing and the movement between Danny Murphy and Andy Johnson was really good and, of course, they scored one of those stunners which is going to feature in goal of the month I would have thought.
What was good about our second goal was the movement to get Nevland in behind the defence and the quality of Johnson’s run to finish it off.
We created a lot of chances but conceded a lot. In the past we haven’t been creating that many and have been conceding very few so it was quite strange that it should go that way.
I really am delighted. We know it’s just as hard to come here and win in a cup tie as it is sometimes to go away and win in a Premiership match.
Wednesday manager Brian Laws was effusive in his praise of our front two. On Johnson he said:
He’s a quality player, you can see that by the way he runs off the ball. He was a threat with his pace but he’s always spinning off the centre-halves. He had great movement against two young defenders, who handled him quite well at times.
Zamora and Johnson are a good combination. You can see why Fulham have done well this season. They both work extremely hard and put you under pressure. They never stand still, they are always on the move.
