Tom Cairney deserved to mark his return to first team action with a goal after all his hard work to recover from a serious knee injury, according to Fulham boss Marco Silva.
The club captain took just twelve minutes to break the deadlock at Craven Cottage this afternoon after he came on as a half-time substitute having been sidelined for ten months with persistent knee problems. The classy playmaker volleyed home majestically after Harry Wilson’s shot had been blocked to shatter Cardiff’s brave resistance – and Fulham moved into the Championship’s top two after Aleksandar Mitrovic added a second six minutes later.
Silva was full of praise for his returning hero after the final whistle.
“We can take many positives from the game. We scored two good goals, we kept being patient and kept playing the same way. The first goal was important for us as the game was more open and there was space for us to explore. It was a clean sheet too, which is important as well, and it was important for Tom to score.
“He deserves it after all these months out and it has been so tough for him, so good to come back with a goal after working so hard in the gym which has been so hard for him. You can imagine how happy he is, these feelings in the moment are great and he helped the team win the game. I had to decide on him or Josh Onomah to bring on and brought him on to give more creativity in that position which he did.”
Silva is confident that Harrison Reed will be fit to face Nottingham Forest on Saturday, despite being withdrawn as a precaution at half time after feeling tightness in his calf.
“I am waiting on the feedback of the medical staff about the calf. I don’t think it is serious, but we will have to wait and see what the scans say.”
Everyone is going to talk about the goal and rightly so…but…to me it is the way TC effortlessly moves the ball around that was so great to see. Just constantly caressing the ball at the right pace and angles to keep the receiver moving into space. We’re going to have a lot of the ball in this division. If we can keep TC fit we’re in business.
Few other comments…I thought both fullbacks were poor last night
Robinson is an athlete but a little sloppy in possession at times. Before the about 6 on 2 break he messed up he’d already given the ball away too many times
Odoi has done a great job standing in for Tete but looked like a stand in last night. He was beaten easily too many times.
Cant see BDR keeping his place when Carvalho is fit.
Did we miss Cavaleiro for 75mins v QPR or last night? Not one bit Silva, please no more Cav.
Oh and 5 mins of Stansfield…I know Cardiff were tired but that boy looks like he can play!
Apart from his goal Tom Cairney added something to our team that had been missing. Lets hope he steers clear on injury, Robinson last night was very poor and his passing was atrocious. A slight worry to see Harisson Reed going off injured again. Rodak showed why he deserves a run in goal. Stansfied who looked really hot ln his short time on the pitch and if Carvalho is not fit to play against Forest at weekend, I would consider playing Stansfield instead of D-Reed.
Great to see Tom Cairney back and chipping in with a magnificent goal. Hopefully he will steer clear of further injuries which has cursed him in recent season. I am far from convinced with Robinson who apart from his pace he looked questionable. I concur with the comments about Stansfield, in the absence of Cavalho I would like to see him start in place of Bobby D-Reed. Seri had another good match a although he made a couple of mistakes towards the end of the match. I was nice to see a game when Cavaleiro did not feature.