Fulham manager Rene Meulensteen hailed captain Brede Hangeland after his return to action in the FA Cup win against Norwich.
The defender, who has been out since October with a sciatic nerve problem, helped the Cottagers to a rare clean sheet as goals from Darren Bent, Ashkan Dejagah and Steve Sidwell earned a 3-0 victory and a fourth round trip to Sheffield United.
And Meulensteen heaped praise on his skipper afterwards.
He said: “It was a big, big boost to have him back. Brede has done ever so well, working really hard to get back. It was great to see that he came through the 90 minutes really well.
“We’ll now need to look at it, because Arsenal away in the league is obviously a different kettle of fish. We’ll review this game with Brede, see how he feels, and go from there.
“We know our defensive record needs improving and that’s why we very clearly set out to keep a clean sheet.
“My biggest thing tonight was keeping the clean sheet. I keep telling the players if we keep clean sheets we will start climbing the table, because we’ve got enough quality.”
