Gaffer unfazed by 'Premier League' side Fulham.
Scotsman Paul Dickov tonight takes his Doncaster Rovers side to Welshman Kit Symonds’ Fulham in the third round of the League Cup – a stage Doncaster have not progressed beyond for close to a decade.Dickov, who was captained by Symonds at Manchester City, spoke to the gathered media prior to the trip to the Capital and said that, despite Fulham’s poor start to the season – which has incorporated the departure of Felix Magath – the Cottagers are, in essence, a Premier League outfit.
“Fulham are having a difficult time of it at the moment and its there for everyone to see but they’ve got some Premier League players at their disposal and we know we’ve got an almighty job on our hands when we go there,” commented Dickov.
“Am I going to sit here and tell you that we’re going to win it [the competition]? Probably not but it would be nice to progress for plenty of reasons from confidence to the financial benefits it provides.”
Dickov was the architect of Oldham’s recent FA Cup run which saw them portrayed as giant-killers when they defeated Liverpool and the 41 year old is on the hunt for more big name scalps.
“It [Watford] was an opportunity for me to tell them to go out and play. We didn’t concentrate on them and I told the players to show everybody how good they are against good players, took the shackles off and away we go.
“They [the players] have all got aspirations to play at a higher level, or a bigger club if they’re being honest and earn more money so go and show people. I’ll single out Matt Smith, who was in non league, came through at Oldham where he scored two goals against Liverpool, goes to Leeds and a year later is a million pound player now at Fulham, all off the back of a couple of cup performances,” said Dickov.
Rovers secured their first home win of the campaign on Saturday when they defeated Chesterfield 3-2 at the Keepmoat Stadium, but the South Yorkshire side will now have four games on the road (Fulham – League Cup, Walsall and Scunthorpe – League, Burton – JPT).
“It’s early doors and it’s important that we calm down whether you win, lose or draw, but still focus on winning games because one win can make such a difference.
“It will take teams time to settle down and get that consistency. We know we’re not too far away but at the same time we know that we’re more than capable of picking up wins.
“We felt that we’d let the home fans down in the previous home game and there was a massive desire to put that right. Now we’ve got that elusive home win under our belts, I don’t see any reason why we can’t progress from here,” finished Dickov.