Danny Murphy was delighted to lead Fulham to a famous win in Basel that saw the Cottagers qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League.
The Fulham captain was a reassuring presence on his return to the side as Fulham’s strong first-half showing, with two late Bobby Zamora goals, formed the basis of a victory that was perhaps a little more comfortable than the 3-2 scoreline suggested.
It was a big result and I thought it was a great game. Coming here we knew we had to get a result, so of course it was going to be end-to-end, but I thought we did terrifically well to go two up just before half-rime and Bobby took his goals really well.
In the second-half inevitably we were on the back-foot a little bit, but we had more chances of our own to kill it off, so we’d have been very disappointed to have not won and I think it was a deserved victory based on the chances in the game.
We’ve been unlucky with decisions in the Europa League so far and that seems to be continuing. But to be fair, we picked ourselves up and scored a third.
That should have been enough to kill them off, but credit to Basel, they kept fighting and got a goal from a set play which is always disappointing.
Murphy was also pleased with Zamora’s impact as a lone striker.
We know we’ve got quality and when we played them at our place we sensed there was a vulnerability to them. And with the way Bobby’s playing, he’s really causing teams problems and the two centre-halves couldn’t cope with it. We just want him to continue doing what he’s doing. He’s been through his ups and downs, but he’s having a great time at the moment.
Long may it continue because when he plays like that we’re a good side, because it means we’ve got a big target man who we can play off and that’s been a big factor for us in this tournament and also the Premier League.
Murphy now wants his team-mates to enjoy their European experience as he looks ahead to Friday’s draw.
Of course, it’s going to be difficult, because, with some of the Champions League teams coming in now as well, we’re going to be playing against real quality over two legs. But we’re at that point in the competition now where it’s about the enjoyment, and the experience.
A lot of our lads haven’t been this far before and if you were talking to us about being in the last 32 of the Europa League this time last season we probably would have laughed a little bit. Let’s be grateful for what we’ve done, pat ourselves on the back and then get back to business with a nice easy game on Saturday against Manchester United!
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