Fulham’s reserves stretched their unbeaten run to six games with a steady 2-0 win over Stoke City at Motspur Park last night. The impressive Christoper Buchtmann, making his first appearance for Billy McKinlay’s side, scored the first and striker Danny Hoesen made the game safe.
Just as importantly, Paul Konchesky got through 70 minutes as he continues his comeback from a foot problem and the left back could be in contention for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter final with Spurs. Fulham’s defence, featuring two relatively inexperienced centre backs in Cheick Toure and Aaron Pierre, were relatively untroubled as the young centre halves kept the dangerous Dave Kitson quiet.
Buchtmann didn’t take long to warm to his task either, embarking on several surging runs that caused problems for the Stoke defence. The German youth international, who signed from Liverpool in the transfer window, opened the scoring on the stroke of half time. After linking up with Konchesky, Buchtmann beat his man cleverly and drove a shot past Steve Simonsen and into the corner.
Simonsen did well to stop shots from David Elm and Alex Smith, while the returning Rob Milsom, sidelined for more than a year with a serious knee injury, became increasingly influential. With five minutes left, Hoesen made sure of the win displaying all the predatory instincts that have made the young Dutch striker one to look out for with a clinical close-range finish.
FULHAM (4-4-2): Zuberbuhler; Stoor, Konchesky (Harris 70), Pierre, Toure; Smith, Milsom (Marquez-Sanchez 85), Marsh-Brown, Buchtmann; Elm (Trotta 77), Hoesen. Subs (not used): Etheridge, Payne.
STOKE CITY (4-4-2): Simonsen; Hedley (Stockhall 87), McDonald, Cohen, Davies; Lund, Faye, Mitchell (Sinclair 87), Foster (Jackson 87); Kitson, Moult. Subs (not used): Parton.
Dan,
Great post about the reserves. I love the info about the game. I think it is important to follow the academy teams and the reserves.
Fantastic to hear that Milsom has recovered – think he could turn into a useful player for us. So unlucky to get such a nasty injury just as he was starting to get into the first team squad.
I want to hear more of Buchtmann personally…from your report it sounds as though he had control of this game from midfield.
Does anyone happen to know what the length of the contract he signed was? There were rumors when he signed that it was a 12 month deal….
I want to hear more about Buchtmann as well. I was thinking the exact same thing.
I was wondering whether Milsom was still at the club or not – seemed like he had recovered from injury in summer but then he disappeared again for six months – glad he’s back.
Great post, though – we never hear enough about the youth or reserves from the offal.
The Buchtmann deal is a 12-month contract, presumably to ensure that the club aren’t tied down to a long-term deal if the kid doesn’t shine. All the reports I’ve heard have been very encouraging.
Milsom’s recovery took a little longer than expected but I agree with Nick – he could be a cracking player. The club are very protective about their youth team but we are hoping to extend our coverage of the reserves.