Clint Dempsey says there’s still more to come from him despite scoring the first hat-trick of his career as Fulham booked a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a win over Charlton Athletic this afternoon.
The American midfielder revealed he has been working to improve his finishing and wants to become an even more regular scorer for Fulham this season. Dempsey’s hat-trick put Fulham in control against the League One side at Craven Cottage before a late strike from substitute Damien Duff rounded off the scoring.
The Texan feels he’s a much more complete footballer since arriving in England in January 2007 and has set his sights on scoring more goals. Dempsey now has 12 goals in 27 appearances for Martin Jol’s side this season:
I’m just trying to get my goal tally up and be better than the previous year and I’m on track to better myself compared to last year. If you look at when I first came over here, I’ve gradually got better and better in terms of goals, but I think my all round play has also got better and I’m starting to feel more comfortable – expressing myself myself how I want to.
Dempsey hopes Fulham can now enjoy a length Cup run, especially after the agony of their early exit from the Europa League.
Hopefully we can go on a nice little run in the FA Cup now. It’s the luck of the draw. It depends on the teams that you get and whether you are at home or away – that plays into it, but if we play the football we are capable of, maybe we can go all the way.
The 28 year-old agreed with Chris Powell’s assertion that a 4-0 scoreline flattered Fulham somewhat and Dempsey was full of praise for Charlton’s performance.
I don’t think the scoreline was a correct description of the game. I thought Charlton worked really hard. They got behind the ball and they made it difficult for us to create chances in the first half when maybe we could have moved the ball a little bit quicker.
They put some pressure on us and to be honest, the second goal we scored was a bit against the run of play, but after that we gained confidence and played the way we wanted.
Gr8 result today 4th round F.A Cup here we come. if you havnt check out the latest Fulham FanTube http://t.co/DcdqHloq