Fuller figures

The ex-Hearts striker may be on a bigger stage but his goal-getting attitude stays the same, he tells Phil Shaw
IT WAS a sumptuous solo goal, a blast of Caribbean sunshine on a bitter, brass-monkeys day at Tynecastle. Ricardo Fuller has repeatedly proved it was no fluke, in the Premier League and in World Cup qualifiers, but as Stoke City enter the second half of the season at West Ham today, there is something about his coup de grace just before Christmas 2001 that still puzzles him.

"How come that never got goal of the season?" Fuller asks, shaking his shaven head in mock indignation. "Unbelievable," he mutters, repeating the word as if he has pondered the injustice over the years since it sealed a Hearts victory. Joking aside, the 29-year-old Jamaican – now leading scorer for Stoke – is delighted his feat in showing Motherwell a clean pair of heels remains warmly remembered.

Hearts led 2-1, Fuller having already scored with a diving header, when Stevie Fulton fed the striker on the halfway line. Off he raced, dancing past two challenges like John Sergeant on speed until Eric Deloumeaux moved authoritatively into his path. Leaving the Frenchman floundering too, he rounded keeper Stephen Woods before scoring.

"I loved my time in Edinburgh," says Fuller, who lived in East Parkside. "Wherever I go, the city is in my mind and my memory. The Hearts players made me feel at home and I've bumped into some of them down the years – Antti Niemi, Steven Pressley, Alan Maybury, Andy Webster. The club and the fans were fantastic. You never say never in football. Who knows, I might play in Scotland again, but if I don't, I'll always remember the people and the good times. I still look out for Hearts' results. When we don't have a game, I'm often checking on their score."

Having progressed from Tivoli Gardens via Crystal Palace to Heart of Midlothian, Fuller must have had a clause in his contract from his early days in Kingston stating he would play only for clubs with poetic names. Stoke may not quite fit that bill, and their big, muscular team is more beast than beauty. Yet Fuller's flair offers a different dimension and his six goals this season include one against Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa that was voted goal of the month by BBC viewers.

Taking Liam Lawrence's pass with his back to goal, a deft touch flicked the ball up and away from Villa's Martin Laursen, who he outpaced before angling his shot across Brad Friedel. Paul Merson claimed that "if Dennis Bergkamp had scored it, everybody would be going mad". For once it was more than mere Skyperbole. But while Fuller's ground-level skills and speed have been a nasty shock for defenders who have spent the week practising aerial drills in readiness for Rory Delap's long throw-ins, his impact will have surprised few who saw him light up Gorgie in 2001-02.

"When I first came over from Jamaica, aged 18, I signed for Charlton Athletic from Tivoli for £1.25m after getting five goals in three trial games," Fuller recalls. "But I failed a medical and when I came back from surgery I joined Palace to get my fitness back. Jim Jefferies wanted to sign me for Hearts before I went to Charlton and Craig Levein took me on a season's loan. I took a while to get going because I'd been out 13 months, but once I found my rhythm and touch, I started scoring."

When Fuller made his debut, in a defeat by Hibs, Hearts were in ninth place after one win in nine matches. They finished fifth and his contribution went beyond 10 goals in 29 outings, making a summer move inevitable. Former Scotland coach Craig Brown paid £500,000 to make him a Preston player. "I did well there," he says, understating a return of 31 goals in 63 games, "and my career has gone on from that, with a few ups and downs." Harry Redknapp bought him for Portsmouth and Southampton, though Fuller's quest to establish himself as a Premier League goalscorer was strewn with false starts and failed medicals before Stoke manager Tony Pulis gambled another half-million fee in 2006.

In the Potteries, as at Hearts, he has attained cult status. Last season, his 15 goals helped Stoke to automatic promotion. He scored their first this season, at Bolton, following up with strikes against Villa ("a special one, up there with the Motherwell goal"), Portsmouth, Hull, Sunderland (a header from one of Delap's torpedos) and Arsenal, when Stoke's win had Arsene Wenger alleging intimidation of his ball-players.

"The criticism we get does bond and inspire us, that's for sure," says Fuller. "But we don't really care what people say. No-one really believed we could do anything in this league so we feel we've nothing to lose. What's happening with Stoke now is what I came into football for. Every player who's been in the lower divisions wants to play on the big stages.

"We try to play to our strengths. We're physical, we're strong, we're a hard-running team and we get results from that. That's the best we can be. We're Stoke. We can't be Manchester United and spend £12m for someone to sit on the bench."

However, any team which can conjure a goal like the one that had Merson drooling must be about more than just route one, long throws and relentless pressuring. "It's not all we do," argues Fuller, having underlined his point at Newcastle recently. Fuller started on the bench – Pulis had detected a lack of sharpness after his exertions in Jamaica's failed bid to reach the 2010 World Cup – and went on with Newcastle coasting at 2-0. Within three minutes he made a goal. Stoke earned a draw at the death.

He now hopes to refute his manager's theory that he cannot cope with the physical demands of three matches in a week as Stoke seek a first away success in a six-pointer with West Ham after defeat at Blackburn and a visit by Manchester United.

"Whether it's United, Chelsea or one of the bottom clubs, we go out to win," insists Fuller. "My approach at Stoke is like it was with Hearts. If you give your best, and take the opportunities every game brings, you can beat anyone."

Taken from the Scotsman