Fulham defender Zat Knight scores first senior goal

Fulham concluded their tour of Scotland with a solid victory over Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Zat Knight and Andrew Cole ensured the win as the Whites put in a well organised and solid performance.

The Jambos, playing in their final pre-season friendly before the kicking off their domestic campaign, started the match showing great intent. After only a matter of seconds the home side came close to testing Mark Crossley but it was the Whites who would draw first blood.

A splendid Claus Jensen corner on five minutes resulted in Zat Knight firmly planting a towering header past Gordon, the Hearts' keeper, into the bottom corner of the net. It was Knight's first goal for the senior side and was greeted with warm congratulations from his team mates.

Hearts started the expected fightback in earnest but with Knight and Pearce holding firm in the centre of defence, many of the home side's attacks resulted in precious little.

On 25 minutes Moritz Volz ran on to a half-cleared ball and from fully 30 yards, the German under-21 international hit a rocket shot which flew just wide of Gordon's post.

Mark Crossley was tested ten minutes later when Hearts new boy, Ramon Pereira, lashed a shot towards goal from 15 yards. The big Welshman reacted well to parry the ball away.

Fulham striker Andy Cole scores first of many goals for Fulham

Hearts continued to press for the equaliser and again came close when a free kick from Pereira fell at the feet of Neilson who fired wide.

With just two minutes to go before the interval, Hearts had the ball in the back of the net when the impressive Pereira headed past Crossley. Fortunately for the Whites, the linesman spotted an offside and raised his flag.

The second half started much the same way at the first, with Hearts continually probing a compact back line. For their part, Fulham sat back and absorbed the pressure and countered quickly with Tomasz Radzinski in particular looking very lively.

To an enormous cheer went up as Hearts brought on their new signing from Manchester United, Michael Stewart. On 57 minutes Stewart worked his way through the defence but managed to fire his shot over van der Sar's bar.

The Jambos continued to attack but with Fulham's defence operating with admirable organisation and Sylvain Legwinski's positional awareness snuffing out any signs of danger, much of the game was played in front of the Whites' back line.

Andrew Cole scored Fulham second of the match on 76 minutes, finishing off an incisive counter-attack with a superb right-footed shot which flew past Moilanen.

The move started with Zesh Rehman bringing the ball out of defence and laying a pass into the path of Radzinski, who had now switched flanks. The Canadian immediately touched the ball to Cole who drilled a first time shot into the back of the net - an instinctive finish.

A rare mistake at the back on 88 minutes allowed Graham Weir to sneak in behind the defence. The Hearts man was brought down by Knight and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. However, Edwin van der Sar continued his Euro 2004 spot kick heroics by making a magnificent save from Steven Pressley, flying full stretch to his left.

Hearts (4-4-2) Gordon (Moilanen 45); Maybury, Pressley, Berra (Stewart 47), McAllister (Neilson 28); Stamp (Janczyk 77), Hartley, Kisnorbo, Hamill (Simmons 77); Pereira (Wyness 73), De Vries (Weir 36)
Subs: MacFarlane, Sloan

Fulham (4-4-2) Crossley (Van der Sar 45); Volz, Bonnisel (Radzinksi 45), Pearce, Knight; Rehman, Legwinksi, Jensen (Green 45) Pratley (McKinlay 66); Cole (McBride 77), John.
Subs: Goma, Pembridge, Rosenior, Bocanegra, Leacock

Referee: John Rowbotham

Att: 6457