Ruben Loftus-Cheek was disappointed that he couldn’t snatch a late win for Fulham at Brighton last night – but the on-loan midfielder believes the victories will come if the Whites keep up their spirited performances.
The England international was denied an injury-time winner by Lewis Dunk’s goal-line clearance at the AMEX Stadium and Loftus-Cheek told Fulham’s official website that the visitors weren’t enamoured with certain elements of their display:
“I wouldn’t say we’re pleased, but I guess you could say it’s a fair result. We’re happy with a point because I think first half they were dominant, first to every ball. We came in at half-time knowing we had to step it up. We weren’t happy at half-time, and we came out second half and upped it a bit but they were still first to more balls, so I think we’ll be happy with a point. Obviously we’re not too happy with the performance, but we’ll take a point.”
Loftus-Cheek’s low drive at the death beat goalkeeper Robert Sanchez but was scrambled away from underneath his own crossbar by the retreating Dunk. The midfielder counted himself unfortunate not to find the net:
“I don’t know if I could have done better. I tried to think about the connection. I hit it sweetly but he’s back there on the line, fair play to him, he did well to get back in line with the shot. It’s one of those where sometimes you need some luck going your way, but it wasn’t our day.”
He lauded the fight shown by his Fulham team-mates, which manifested itself in another determined defensive display.
“If we weren’t fighting for the badge then there’s a problem, there’s a serious problem. And I don’t see that in any of the players. Every player is showing fight, which is what brings everyone together. When you see everyone fighting, in tough games, it brings you together and your spirit is high, so even though we didn’t match them in some areas, you could see that we wanted to work hard to stop them scoring.”
Attention now turns to another crucial away trip to the Hawthorns, as Fulham prepare to take on West Bromwich Albion at the weekend:
“It’s a massive game against another team around us. We want to beat them and pick up points. We deserve to pick up some points soon, and I’m sure it’s coming. The performances, on the whole, have been really good, so we keep going and I’m sure we’ll start picking up some wins.”
