Villa 1 Fulham 3

Libor Kozak scored his first goal in 19 months but Villa still fell to defeat against Fulham in their opening pre-season friendly.

The 26-year-old Czech striker has been out of action after suffering a broken leg in January 2014 but enjoyed a scoring return when he cancelled out Matt Smith's opener for the Cottagers in Albufeira.

But a stunner from Alex Kacaniklic and a late strike from Ross McCormack ensured it was Fulham who got the win at the Estadio Da Nora.

Villa boss Tim Sherwood fielded a different XI in each half but saw his side fall behind when Smith got on the end of a long ball to beat keeper Jed Steer midway through the first period.

Carles Gil came the closest to levelling before the break when he fired over.

Kozak made no mistake 11 minutes in the second half when he collected a pass from Joe Cole and finished impressively.

Kacaniklic fired home an unstoppable shot from 25 yards on 67 minutes to restore Fulham's advantage, while former Leeds frontman McCormack produced a composed finish on 87 minutes to seal it.

In between, Villa might have levelled when Aleksandar Tonev, lively down the right side, fired a fierce ball across the box on 76 minutes but there was no-one there to finish as it flew across goal.

Sherwood's side, who are in Portugal for a pre-season training camp, now face Sporting Braga in another training match on Friday.

Villa first half: Steer, Baker, Richards, Bacuna, Richardson, Mason, Cole, Gil, N'Zogbia, Robinson, Agbonlahor.

Vill second half: Watkins, Donacien, Senderos, Clark, Cissokho, Tonev, Gardner, Calder, Cole, Sinclair, Kozak.