Pantsil excels despite defeat

Pantsi is in Australia on pre-season Ghana defender John Pantsil excelled even though Fulham conceded two late goals as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Gold Coast United in Australia on Wednesday.

 
The Ghana international played only the first half of the game before he and other first players were withdrawn.

 
Pantsil made several challenges before he was substituted and even prevented the wider goal margin for the home side.

 
First-team stars Mark Schwarzer, Zoltan Gera, Danny Murphy, Bobby Zamora and Erik Nevland all played the first half of the club's opening tour fixture in Queensland.

 
After the break, Aaron Hughes and Andrew Johnson were among the men handed run-outs.

 
Young centre-back Chris Smalling played 79 minutes at the heart of the defence while Seol Ki-Hyeon completed the whole match on the left flank.

 
Murphy opened the scoring for the visitors on the quarter-hour mark with a 25-yard free-kick which flew into the top left-hand corner.

 
Pantsil deflected a goalbound effort over soon after, while Smalling then appeared fortunate not to concede a penalty for handball.

 
Pascal Zuberbuhler took over the gloves from Schwarzer for the second half, and was almost beaten on 54 minutes when Michael Thwaite's header hit the woodwork, with Smeltz scooping his effort over the bar.

 
However, Gold Coast did claim a deserved equaliser on 80 minutes when Brazilian striker Milson tucked the ball away following Shane Smeltz's header across goal.

 
Six minutes later, Fulham failed to clear a corner and Smeltz fired the ball home through a crowd of players.

 
Eddie Johnson was flagged offside as the visitors pushed for a leveller in the closing stages, to no avail.

 
Roy Hodgson's men will now look to bounce back against Melbourne Victory on Saturday.