Fulham history boys in no mood to party

FULHAM rewrote the club record books here but nobody was in the mood to celebrate. This draw was their 16th match unbeaten in the league — a Fulham best that beat the 15-game run of Kevin Keegan’s side in 1999. At the end of that campaign, Fulham won the old Second Division by a commanding 14 points from Walsall (Manchester City were third), and Keegan went off to manage England. This season could also finish with promotion celebrations, but with the club still seven points behind the top two, it’s increasingly likely these will have to happen at Wembley following a play-off final. In a careless performance, at odds with their swashbuckling form, Fulham chucked away a two-goal lead and missed the opportunity to pile the pressure on secondplaced Cardiff. Goals from Tom Cairney (right) and Lucas Piazon looked like they had Fulham cruising to victory, but they switched off in the final seconds of first-half stoppage time to allow Massimo Luongo to reduce QPR’s arrears. And when Denis Odoi hesitated when playing the ball out of defence with nine minutes left, Pawel Wszolek mugged him and earned Rangers their reward for a much-improved second half. It left the new new unbeaten unbeaten record feeling rather irrelevant. ‘We’re not here to get landmarks and make history,’ said Marcus Bettinelli, the Fulham keeper. ‘We’re here to get promoted, that’s our job. Regardless of what we have done this year, it will all count for nothing if we don’t get promoted. Right now, our mentality is still for second place. Automatic promotion is up for grabs but three or four months ago, if someone had said “You’ll make the play-offs”, everyone would have taken it.’ Slavisa Jokanovic’s side were beaten by Reading in the playoffs last season but Bettinelli believes they have come a long way since. ‘A lot of the lads in that dressing room have learned from last year,’ he said. ‘We have adapted to it and if it comes to that, we will be mentally and physically in better shape when the play-offs come round.’ QPR striker Matt Smith, formerly of Fulham, agreed: ‘They can use the experience of last year. They know what went wrong for them. Certainly they are better equipped this season and the signing of Mitrovic might be the key one. They’ll be the side most teams will fear.’