MITRO’S BANGING ON DOOR
BY
FOR strikers Patrick Bamford and Aleksandar Mitrovic, the past 12 months could not have been more different.
Last season, as Fulham reached the Premier League via the play-offs, Serbian Mitrovic (left) hit 26 goals, while, as Leeds won the Championship title, Bamford netted 16.
But this season Mitrovic – kept out of the side by Josh Maja – has struggled, with just 10 league starts and two goals.
However, Bamford has been a huge hit with 13 strikes.
Cottagers boss Scott Parker (right, with Mitrovic), whose side face Leeds tonight, said: “Mitro is banging down my door to get in this team.
“His performances off the bench have been very good. It’s good to have two strikers that are fighting each other to get in this team. Bamford is up there with the best. What he is asked to do out of possession is phenomenal. Mitro is never going to be a player that does things that Bamford can do.”
Fulham skipper Tom Cairney has been out with a knee problem and Parker added: “There is that fear that Tom may not play again this season. Time is against him.”
LOOK back over his three decades at the highest level and you will see Lee Westwood has been a ferocious competitor, which is why you might not take his comments after the Players Championship at face value.
Having been pipped for a momentous win for the second time in a fortnight, he was refreshingly honest, saying golf is taken too seriously at times and he was just happy and privileged to do a job he loved.
Lovely. But the inescapable truth is Westwood (left) let not one, but two PGA tournaments slip from his grasp.
At Bay Hill, a one-under-par final round would have sealed the deal and at Sawgrass, the championship would have been his with a closing 70.
Despite £1.8million in prize money, Westwood the ferocious competitor will be a little sore.
But at least the Englishman has struck a blow for the more mature, shorter-hitting golfer.
A fear that youth and brawn might tear up the golfing landscape was exposed as nonsense by 47-year-old Westwood.
And don’t back against him making up for it with his first Major next month.
Westwood in a Green Jacket. Now that would be a story.