That we came away from Fulham on Saturday feeling somewhat dejected after drawing the game illustrates how much our form has improved over the last few games.
Of course, prior to a ball being kicked, we would have been satisfied with getting a point at such a tough venue.
As we all know Craven Cottage hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the club over the past 25 years, but we came very close to getting that elusive win there yesterday.
I will never know where the officials got six minutes of additional time from and to concede right at the death was a bitter blow.
The result felt like a defeat rather than a draw given how we battled so hard throughout the game to take the lead and hold onto it for as long as we did.
It was a performance that engendered pride and it’s been a long while since we have seen such a resilient defensive display. It was just a great shame as the players gave it their all.
Our travelling support was once again magnificent and I thank you all for travelling in numbers such a long distance. You are a credit to the club.
What the performance told us was that we are now becoming difficult to beat. Fulham are a good side and they knew they had been in a battle just to salvage the draw.
I echo the manager’s comments in that we needed the second goal to kill off the game and we had the better chances but unfortunately it didn’t quite happen. In very competitive games like these there is always the chance of conceding a late goal and as other teams have also found out Fulham are the late goal specialists.
We are improving week on week and this level of consistency is what is required to climb out of the bottom three.
We need more of the same on Tuesday night when we travel up to Sunderland, which again will be another tough encounter as they will be battling for a result after losing at home on Saturday.
Whilst we are disappointed at coming so close to our first away win this season it’s a good thing that games are coming thick and fast and the players, who understandably were down after the game, won’t have time to dwell on what might have been and will move on and try and get a result at Sunderland on Tuesday night.
Norwich will then be the visitors on Saturday to cap a very busy week of three tough fixtures - and we need more of the same effort and commitment which in turn will breed confidence.
I hope to see as many of you as possible at Macron Stadium where we can hopefully keep up this momentum.
Kind regards,
Ken