Aaron Hughes expects a difficult second leg next week after Fulham battled to a goalless draw in Split this evening.
The Fulham centre back was not surprised by the quality of a RNK Split side, who might consider themselves unfortunate not to have fashioned a lead to bring with them to Craven Cottage.
I don’t know how everyone else perceived them but, from watching the DVDs, we saw that they were well-organised and a good side. We knew it was going to be a good test – and it was.
We’re reasonably happy that we came away with a clean sheet – when you go away from home you’re always happy with that. It would have been nice to get on the score sheet ourselves but they’re not a bad side.
ut here, no matter who you play, physically they’re strong and well-organised and they’re at home – so they have the incentive to try and cause an upset. The pitch, at times, didn’t help us but overall with the conditions and how the opposition played, we’ve got be happy with the clean sheet. We know we’ve got a chance taking them back to the Cottage.
Hughes warned against complacency ahead of the second leg next Thursday and suggested that Fulham may need to be patient.
It will be similar, at times they sat a little bit deep and tried to stop us playing so we can expect something similar – especially since we’re at home. But hopefully the home advantage could stick the tie in our favour – there’s still something to play for and I’m sure they’ll be thinking the same thing.
We didn’t expect to rock up here and win two or three nil, we would have liked to… it would have been great. But we respect the opposition and that’s why we’re reasonably happy to come away with a draw.