After success over Melbourne Victory last night, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is pleased with their preseason tour Down Under.

He said: "So far it's been very worthwhile," he enthused. "I must say we wouldn't get this quality of games this early on in our pre-season under normal circumstances. The teams are so competitive, fit and well organised. You would normally start with much easier games and build up, but we've got to compromise pre-season this year because we need to be ready on the 30th of July, which is a good two weeks earlier than we would normally be ready.

"So I think it's been a great exercise. We've been very well treated, the training facilities and the way we've been looked after down on the Gold Coast have been quite outstanding and, of course, we've played two very competitive games in front of good crowds.

'It's a great experience for some of the younger players too who, especially today, were able to go on at a time when we were in a strong position and show some qualities themselves."