ALEK’S IN TOP SHAPE
Mitrovic spark for Silva machine
MARCO SILVA could not hide his delight after five-star Fulham destroyed Huddersfield to climb to the Championship summit.
It is very early days but on this evidence the Cottagers appear a decent bet to make an immediate Premier League return.
Silva was appointed earlier this summer after Scott Parker jumped ship for Bournemouth – and the Fulham boss saw his men take the Terriers to the cleaners in bizarre and controversial fashion.
Even after £12million summer signing Harry Wilson was sent off for kicking out at Levi Colwill on 72 minutes, Fulham still scored twice more with their 10 men.
Silva beamed: “We really deserved the three points and were the best team on the pitch again.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get what we deserved last week against Middlesbrough, despite having chances.
“We scored five. We had some luck with the first goal but we had three or four clear chances to score more. In the end it was a fair result and the players did well.”
Huddersfield keeper Ryan Schofield’s clumsy clearance rebounded off
Aleksandar Mitrovic and into the net for the opener.
Josh Onomah nodded in a second but Matty Pearson headed home for Huddersfield before Fabio Carvalho rifled in a low shot to make it 3-1 at the break.
Wilson, signed from Liverpool, hit the crossbar from 20 yards before being fouled by Colwill and kicking out at him – sparking a melee between both sets of players.
Silva said of the red card: “I haven’t seen it again yet, but we have to keep our emotional balance really strong.
“These type of players should be more protected in this type of football, because they are suffering tackles all the time.”
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Fulham substitute Ivan Cavaleiro produced two fine finishes in the final quarter to leave Town boss Carlos Corberan devastated.
He said: “Where did we go wrong? Many things.
“We need to be self-critical because
I’m fully focused on finding solutions.”