Fulham Res 3 Cardiff City Res 0
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Former Cardiff loan striker Eddie Johnson returned to haunt the Bluebirds as he scored twice to fire Fulham to victory against City's reserves.
USA international Eddie, a cult figure during his time at Ninian Park, scored only two goals last season, but equalled that total in one match as our second string went down 3-0 at Fulham's Motspur Park training ground. And he skimmed the bar for good measure as he went for a hat-trick.
He said afterwards: "I'm sure sorry about scoring those goals - Cardiff City is like family for me. That's where I learned how to play in Europe after coming over from America. The staff there, Dave Jones, Terry Burton, and Paul Wilkinson, taught me so much and got me used to the different training methods. I came back to Fulham a better player.
"I made some great friends at Cardiff and it was good to see so many of them back today. You've made a flying start, in second place just a point behind the leaders, It sounds like Chops is back to his best and Whitts is banging in the goals. I can't wait to get back down there and see the boys playing in the new stadium."
But Cardiff's second string were glad to see the back of Eddie when he was subbed late on in this friendly clash.
City, fielding a heavy representation of players with first-team experience, including Peter Enckelman, Gavin Rae, Riccy Scimeca and Ross McCormack, went behind in the 11th minute when Matt Saunders' shot from inside the box took a deflection off Jonathan Meades and sailed over Enckelman into the net.
Warren Feeney, who played his first 90 minutes for six months, fired straight at keeper David Stockdale after being fed in by a fine bout of City passing in the 27th minute. Seconds later, Feeney was in action again but he blazed over after Rae set him up wioth a run from the centre circle.
Johnson struck twice in a seven-minute spell either side of half time to doom his old pals to defeat. He fired in on 42 minutes, and came close to a second when his shot skimmed the top of the bar a minute before the break. But he made up for that miss when he scored his second with a left-foot shot on 49 minutes.
Looking for his hat-trick, Eddie forced a diving save out of Enckelman after a great run into the box to meet a cross from the right.
The show was over for Eddie when he was subbed after 67 minutes, and Cardiff went looking for a consolation goal. Full back Paul Quinn showed up well on the right and lively sub Nat Jarvis headed just wide from his cross. Then McCormack's 25-yard free kick whistled over the bar after Sol Ki Hyeun was penalised for handball
There was a scare for City six minutes from the end when Scimeca was assisted off with a back injury. but reserve coach Paul Wilkinson said afterwards: "Riccy should be OK. This was a valuable workout for our lads against a Premier League club who posed us plenty of problems."
Cardiff City: Enckelman, Quinn, Meades, Scimeca (capt), Morris, Comminges, Taiwo, Feeney, Bichard, Rae, McCormack.
