Fulham defeat not Bobby Zamora's fault insists Martin Jol

 

Simon Peach
Tuesday 25 October 2011 18:08 BST
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Zamora blazes over with the goal gaping
Zamora blazes over with the goal gaping

Fulham manager Martin Jol insists Bobby Zamora has nothing to apologise for after an extraordinary miss seconds before Everton secured victory at Craven Cottage.

The Toffees took a third-minute lead after Royston Drenthe hit an audacious shot, but the home side levelled through Bryan Ruiz's exquisite chip.

Fulham thought they had grabbed a last-minute winner through Zamora after he latched on to Andrew Johnson's pass and rounded Howard, but somehow he managed to hit the bar.

The west Londoners were made to pay for their profligacy seconds later as Louis Saha and Jack Rodwell helped Everton secure a 3-1 win, but Jol does not blame Zamora.

"You should apologise if you get a red card, like Moussa Dembele did on Thursday [in the Europa League], but not if you miss a chance," he said.

"It happens loads of times, but today it was probably a little bit [worse] because we should - we could've - won the game."

He added: "It is not about possession or playing better now, it is about chances.

"We really thought we could have a result from today but we didn't.

"Bobby had the winning goal on his foot and then we conceded a goal in the 90th minute.

"There's nothing you can say to Bobby. He's sick and we're all sick.

"They play together and they lost together. We should have won this game and we didn't. Today should have been different."

Opposite number David Moyes was understandably happy with Everton's win, especially as it ended a run of three straight defeats.

While the Blues boss was keen to salute his whole squad for the victory, he reserved special praise for on-loan Real Madrid midfielder Drenthe.

"Drenthe did a lot of good things today," he said.

"He scored a great first goal and had a good game.

"We're trying to get him used to the speed of the Premier League and the way we do things at Everton.

"We just tried to get him ready and how we want him to play with us.

"He's been a good lad around the place. You can see by his celebration he's very much part of the group and we're pleased to have him."

PA

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