‘If he’s scoring goals I am happy’ – Martin Jol praises Bobby Zamora after Fulham’s Europa League win

Martin Jol, Fulham

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Fulham boss Martin Jol was satisfied with his team’s performance in the 3-1 victory in the Europa League second round first leg tie against Crusaders, and reserved special praise for striker Bobby Zamora.

The part-timers gave the Cottagers a fright in the second-half when they levelled up proceedings, but tired towards the end of the game giving Fulham the chance to capitalise.

Goals from Matthew Briggs, Zamora and Danny Murphy, were sandwiched around a debut goal for Crusaders’ Timmy Adamson.

Jol told reporters: “In hindsight you could say if you score three goals away from home it’s okay.

“We said before the game they will be battling for the first 60, maybe 70 minutes and then it’s probably over.

“They gave us a good game, they’ve got a direct style with two big strikers so we had to keep concentrating over 90 minutes and that’s what we didn’t do with the goal.”

Jol is happy with striker’s Zamora’s form heading into the new season, now he has been given a run of games following an injury-hit campaign last year.

The Fulham pair worked together at White Hart Lane, and it was the Dutchman who sold the striker to West Ham, but his manager praised Zamora’s display in Northern Ireland.

He added: “He’s a goalscorer, so if he’s scoring goals I am happy.”

Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter couldn’t have been more delighted with his players after they pushed Premier League opposition all the way to the end of the game.

He said: “We have given an incredible account of ourselves.

“You are talking about part-time players, the gulf in footballing and financial terms is just incredible and for us to give a performance like we have tonight and put them on the rack for a little bit, for five minutes, when we might have gone 2-1 up, maybe even 3-1 up, was fantastic.

“We have given them a game and that’s important for Irish league football – we were flying the flag a little bit for what we do over here at part-time level and I think we did it particularly well.”