Bullish Parker insists Cottagers have the momentum heading into clash with Cardiff
FULHAM boss Scott Parker believes that it will be his side who have the momentum over Cardiff City heading into the play-off semi-final.
The Bluebirds romped to victory against Hull City on Wednesday with a 3-0 win and, in doing so, secured fifth place.
Fulham, meanwhile, limped to a draw against relegation-battling Wigan Athletic, meaning they missed their chance to seal an automatic promotion spot and will now face Cardiff next week.
Asked how he was feeling after the draw against the Latics, Parker (pictured) said after the game: “Positive, a real positive because we were realistic and certainly the way we framed it was realistic.
“We knew what we had to do tonight and to bring the season to the last game was a massive positive for us.
“We took it to the wire, it’s not happened for us, we knew it was well out of our hands tonight.
“We all understood it was likely we were going to the play-offs. We lost two games out of lockdown and since then we’ve been in very good form, that’s seven unbeaten now. When you’re close there’s an element of ‘can we do it,’ but you’re relying on other teams to slip up.
“We move on. You’d expect me to say what I’m saying, but it is a big positive, that’s where we are and we go into the play-offs in good form, with momentum with us.
“A good performance tonight, second half we had a real bit about us against a team needing to get a result. We move on from this now.
“It wasn’t meant to be for us, we’ll be focused. We’ll push on in a tough game against Cardiff and we’ll go from there.”
With Fulham having won only one of their last three matches, however, that might not necessarily be a view to which many Cardiff City fans subscribe.
Indeed, it is arguably the Bluebirds who have the greater momentum going into the play-off semi-final, having recorded three wins out of three in their most recent outings, scoring eight goals in doing so.
In fact, City boss Neil Harris said after Wednesday night’s triumph over Hull that Fulham should in fact already be in the Premier League, given the money they have spent, and all the pressure is now on them.
“There is a bit of pressure on us, but there is huge pressure on Fulham playing against us – a team that should be in the Premier League, given the money they have spent and are now spending,” Harris said.
“We will go and enjoy it.”