Fulham hammer Perth Glory on Aussie tour

Fulham wrapped up their pre-season tour of Australia with an impressive 5-0 rout of Perth Glory here on Wednesday, with Erik Nevland bagging an eight-minute hat-trick.

The English Premier League team had a mixed time in their first two outings against A-League sides, losing 2-1 to Gold Coast and then beating Melbourne Victory 3-0.

But they were far too good for the Glory, dominating possession and creating almost endless scoring opportunities against an outclassed opponent.

“I’ve been pleased with all three games,” Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said, looking forward to the new season and a European campaign.

“What you saw from the team tonight is going to be what we are looking for when we go into Europe as well.

“We took the game very seriously and worked in the same way had we been playing Premier League opposition.

“What I’ve seen is players with a very focussed attitude to how we want to play.”

Fulham were dangerous from the off, with strikers Andrew Johnson and Bobby Zamora creating havoc, Hodgson playing down reports a deal had been struck with Hull that would see the latter join City in a five-million-pound deal.

Johnson opened the scoring in the 17th minute, pouncing on a rebound to slot home.

A rare opportunity to see Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in action was a big draw for local fans, but the Fulham custodian was barely called into action in the first half and was substituted at the break.

Both Johnson and Zamora, whom Hodgson said would be hard to replace should he move to Hull City, were also rested in the second half as Fulham worked into a strong breeze.

Substitute Nevland got on the end of some crafty passes from Zoltan Gera and Edward Johnson to make it 2-0 in the 60th minute.

Just four minutes later, Nevland made it a brace when he slotted coolly past Alex Vrteski from the edge of the box.

The 31-year-old Norwegian made it a quickfire hat-trick in the 68th minute — Fulham’s fourth — after he ran onto a clever through ball from Johnson and again found himself with just Vrteski to beat.

Andranik added a fifth in the 82nd minute as the Londoners ended their tour in style.