SERB YOU RIGHT
Mit proves his worth in second tier
ALEKSANDAR MITROVIC made it a dozen goals for the season with a dominant double to dismantle QPR.
The Serb set this West London derby alight with a stunning 10th-minute strike before heading in his second on 67 minutes after Lyndon Dykes had levelled for the visitors 13 minutes earlier.
Subs Bobby Decordova-Reid and Antonee Robinson rounded off the drubbing at Craven Cottage.
Cottagers boss Marco Silva said: “Mitrovic is really important for us. On my first day I spoke to him on the phone and I was clear what I would demand from him.
“Scoring goals is important for us but he is not just about goals. The way he can link and he is working more and more without the ball as well but also we want to keep him fresh to decide games inside the box.
“And you know Mitro, if you create well and he is in the box he can punish the opposition like he did.”
Former Fulham manager Scott Parker only started Mitrovic 13 times in the top flight last season but back in the Championship it is opposition defenders who are finding him unplayable.
The striker opened the scoring when he took down Neeskens Kebano’s cross on his chest, swivelled and drilled a right-footed shot inside Seny Dieng’s near post.
The arrival of Dykes at half-time changed the game for QPR as he rounded Marek Rodak to level the scoring.
The visitors had their tails up but that all changed when Mitrovic was left unmarked in the box to head home.
Decordova-Reid latched on to a 71st-minute through ball to angle a low shot past Dieng and fellow sub Robinson rounded things off with an injury-time strike.
Hoops boss Mark Warburton said: “If I am honest there was a softness about us in the first half.
“We showed too much respect summed up by the goal. We were more aggressive and on the front in the second half and got the goal and we were in the ascendency.
“The second was an outstanding header but when there is 3 v 1 in the box it shouldn’t happen.”
Rodak 6; Odoi 6, Adarabioyo 7, Ream 6, Bryan 6 (Robinson (58th) 6); Reed 7, Seri 8; Kabano 8, Wilson 7 (Chalobah 77), Cavaleiro 6 (Decordova-Reid (33rd) 6); Mitrovic 9
QPR: Dieng 6; Dickie 6, De Wijs 6, Barbet 5; Odubajo 6, Johansen 7, Ball 5 (Dykes (46th) 6), McCallum 6 (Dunn (66th) 6); Chair 6, Willock 7; Austin 6 (Gray (69th) 6)
STAR MAN: Aleksandar Mitrovic
REF: O Langford