Ross McCormack was pleased to get off the mark with his first goal for Fulham last night – but insists a first win of the new season was much more important.
Felix Magath’s side had lost all four of their Championship fixtures before the west London derby at Brentford in the Capital One Cup and McCormack believes that the 1-0 win at Griffin Park will give a young squad a real confidence boost ahead of the return to league action against Cardiff on Saturday. The Scotland international’s clinical finish from a fine Chris David pass settled the tie and eased some of the pressure on Magath.
It’s good to get a goal but the most important thing for the squad, for the manager, for the fans especially, was to get the first win of the season because it’s not been good enough really. In every game I think we’ve played okay without creating any chances. On Tuesday we created a few and could have had a few more [goals] in the second half.
I had one ruled offside which I’m not so sure about, Cauley [Woodrow] had a chance or two, so it was good to be playing with that freedom and creating chances and winning the game. It’s a good bit of belief now because, like I said, we’d played well without creating any chances in games so that’s why we were getting beat.
But we did okay on Tuesday. We probably didn’t play as well as we have done in some of the other games in terms of possession of the ball, but we created more chances, so that’s nice. It’s just a good feeling and I’m pleased for the Manager and the fans.
McCormack has been impressed with the quality of Fulham’s young starlets since arriving at the club in the summer and has no qualms about the inclusion of a number of the club’s recent academy graduates.
Regardless of their age I think it’s important they get across to people that they’re good enough. They’re not here because there’s no-one else here – they’ve been promoted to the first team squad based on their talent. It’s just about getting experience into these boys and getting them streetwise on the pitch.
Attentions now turn to the visit of one of McCormack’s old clubs, Cardiff City, to Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon.
That’s the big one. Cup wins are nice but your bread and butter is the league. We’ve had a bad start so it’s important we put it right, starting Saturday. We’re four games in, we’ve got a completely new squad, we’re trying to gel, we’re trying every day in training to gel. Maybe a result away from home in a local derby will give us the belief we’ve been needing to go on.
