Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Craven Cottage was one of those games where you are glad that you went and didn’t give it a miss, for those 5,000 Saints fans packed in behind the Putney End goal it was a special day out.
For some reason you just had an inkling at Fulham that something special was going to happen, it was clear from the start it wasn’t going to be easy and we were going to have fight for everything, but as the game went on the team upped the ante and so did the fans.
Tonda Eckert has revealed just how much that the support meant to him and his squad, although in truth those there did not need telling they could see it in the emotions of the players as they came up at the end of the game to celebrate a great victory with the fans.
Speaking to southamptonfc.com He had this to say :
“We had our charity event on Friday, and you just get a sense of how much it means to the club, to the supporters, and you arrive here today and the whole street is full of supporters.
“When you get off the coach and you come into the stadium, the whole end behind the goal is full of Southampton supporters. You just feel that this game was something special for us today, and I think we managed to do this quite well over the 90 minutes.”
Eckert also revealed that it was a tactical decision for the team to play with their backs to the Saints supporters in the second half, rather than attacking our own fans.
“I’m quite happy that Taylor [Harwood-Bellis] won the toss today because, you know how it is, we knew that we were probably going to have some moments, especially in the second half, where we need to defend in front of our fans.
“Especially when they start making substitutions and then they bring some energy on us – it’s a quality team, Fulham – I think especially in those moments, first half as well, yes, but especially in the second half when you then have to defend a little bit deeper it’s just so important when you defend in front of your fans that you manage to suffer a little bit more in some moments, and I think that’s what got us the clean sheet today.
“We came from a moment where it was not so easy to win football games, then you win one, but you need to win again and again and again. The only way to do that is that you have a big belief in what you do, a big belief in the quality that we have on the pitch, and then it doesn’t really matter wherever you go and who you play.
“You just always need to have that confidence that you’re able to win a game, and I think that showed today.”
Standing in the crowd yesterday, I could see just what Tonda Eckert meant, Fulham had a lot of play in our final third, but the fans roared on the team , perhaps if Fulham had scored it would have been a different day, but the longer the game went on, the more the supporters raised their voices and spurred on the team and both upped their efforts as the game went on.
Saints defended as if their lives depended on it, they were not going to allow Fulham to score and neither were the supporters.
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