FULHAM TIPPED TO KEEP COOL IN A TIGHT SPOT

THE promotion race in the Championship is the closest it has been for years.

It has become a case of who blinks first in the battle between Cardiff and Fulham for the second automatic promotion spot.

And the play-offs are still wide open.

Aston Villa have booked their place but Middlesbrough and Derby still need points while Millwall, Brentford and Preston have not given up the chase.

But the battle between Cardiff and Fulham is the one that has really caught the eye.

Not least because of the two personalities involved.

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock (inset) saw the Bluebirds slip up against Derby in midweek.

But his fate is in his own hands and he has already been crowned Championship Manager of the Year for what he has achieved at a club with the sixth smallest budget in the division.

Warnock concedes that the award was given out too soon and it will be no consolation if Fulham pip them at the post.

Their manager Slavisa Jokanovic has worked wonders at Craven Cottage, where they tackle relegated Sunderland tonight before travelling to lowly Birmingham on the final day of the season.

Jokanovic (above), who is widely admired for his style of football, made decent signings and has led the club on a remarkable run since the turn of the year.

If this is a time for cool heads then Jokanovic will not lose his during the run-in, according to his former Tenerife pal Juan Carlos Unzue.

Celta Vigo boss Unzue says Jokanovic is one of his top five team-mates, largely because of his temperament when things get tense.

Unzue said: “Slavisa was a really accomplished midfielder, with tremendous physical attributes. Not the quickest on the ground but extremely mentally sharp and intelligent.

“At Tenerife, we were playing to stay up in the last game of the season and needed to win against Valencia.

“We didn’t equalise until the 80th minute.

“Then in injury time we were awarded a penalty, and we looked to our regular penalty-takers in the team – our strikers and goalscorers.

“But Slavisa said he was going to take it.

“He simply took the ball and headed over to the penalty spot and tucked it away in the top corner with a confidence that shocked us all.”