Fulham forward Matt Smith believes his side can build on a strong start to the season at Leeds United tomorrow and says confidence is currently coursing through the squad.
Smith scored his second goal of the season at Preston last weekend to secure a third straight win for Slavisa Jokanovic’s side and the early-season success has got belief growing that Fulham can be competitive in the Championship this year. He told the club’s official website:
Confidence is brewing within the camp. We’re starting to look like a team, definitely, very organised, which is good to see, and set pieces, which was our achilles heel, is actually something that’s proving quite fruitful for us at the minute, so it’s only the beginning – it’s a long old season – so we can’t get too carried away and we’ve got to keep putting in performances like we have done.
The tall striker gave much of the credit for the vital second goal at Deepdale to midfielder Tom Cairney, whose surging Fulham from midfield, created the space for Smith to finish past Anders Lindegaard at the second attempt.
Tom went on a mazy, really good run and all he had to do was knock it to the side and he did and I was able to get the finish away, so that was good.
He was, however, surprised to see his header on the stroke of half time ruled out by referee James Adcock and remains mystified as to the infringement that led to the goal being disallowed.
I thought it was a perfectly good goal. I was quite surprised, to be honest. I still don’t know what it is was for, whether it was me or Sone [Aluko] and the referee didn’t really make that very clear. Looking back at it, it’s a perfectly good goal, but ultimately it didn’t count for anything.
The former Leeds striker is looking forward to returning to his old club tomorrow night and believes Fulham are in with a good chance of extending Garry Monk’s miserable start at Elland Road – if they follow Jokanovic’s instructions.
Our belief is strong, we’re confident that we can win the game, but they’ve obviously got a point to prove as well. They will want to put a good showing in for their fans. I know it’s a hostile environment to play in, Elland Road, as much as it is a very special place to play football, their fans will be right on them if they’re not performing. It’s our job to try and make that happen. We’ll go into it confident and as long as we stick to our game plan, I’m sure we will be okay.
