Roy Hodgson beamed with delight after his much-changed Fulham side battled to a creditable draw in Sofia tonight.
The Fulham boss had made nine changes from the side that had beaten Everton at Craven Cottage on Sunday. His second string claimed a valuable point thanks to a second half equaliser from Diomansy Kamara, who had been linked with a loan move to Newcastle this week.
Hodgson was very pleased with the Fulham performance.
That is a very positive result for us. It was a difficult game, as we knew it would be, against a good side who very rarely get beaten on their own patch. But you’d be nit-picking to criticise any of our players – and now I know any one of them can come in and do a job.
We had a couple of injuries and I wanted to rest a few to give a few players a chance to show what they can do in a competitive match. The fact that we came away with a draw after so many good performances, I can’t be anything other than delighted.
We went behind to one of the match’s first real chances – if you can call it that – but we showed the character to get back in it and equalise. We don’t have to apologise for that because I think we deserved something out of the match. That only heightens my pleasure from the players’ performance.
Hodgson was unsure as to whether he would be resting players for Fulham’s other European fixtures.
I wouldn’t know right now. What I do know is that there will be quite a few of those guys who are sat at home for this who are now champing at the bit to get involved in these European games. We need to balance as best we can the number of matches that our players play.
