Fulham manager Kit Symons has placed Marcus Bettinelli’s absence from Craven Cottage over the weekend down to injury.
The promising young goalkeeper, who features in England’s U21 side, has been heavily mooted with a transfer to neighbours Chelsea in recent months.
And after being unavailable for the final pre-season fixture against Crystal Palace, Symons insisted that his absence was down to a hamstring injury picked up on Friday.
“Bettinelli only did it yesterday in training. So, hopefully that won’t be too long.”
The Whites also had a simultaneous match played at Colchester, in which Peter Grant and Mike Rigg were in charge of a Fulham XI which won 1-0.
In pictures: Fulham's 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace
But there were a number of players missing from both sides, including Australian forward Adam Taggart, Scott Parker and Fernando Amorebieta.
“All injured, yeah,” the Fulham boss said.
“Everyone who was missing from the two lineups was just out injured, unfortunately. Touch wood there are no long term injuries we need to worry about, so that is quite positive.”
And the win at Colchester was reflected upon fondly by Fulham’s chief football officer Rigg, who felt the Whites dominated from start to finish.
“With two games on at the same time we wanted to give as many of the First Team players match time," he said.
“I was pleased with Ryan Tunnicliffe and Matt Smith. As the two most senior players there, the way that they applied themselves was excellent.
“It was tough going there, but they were excellent with how they approached the game.”
