Scott won’t tame Mitro
ALEKSANDAR MITROVIC does not come in a neat package to be easily pigeonholed – which is why the Fulham striker is the Championship’s top scorer and heading for the first suspension of his season.
The Serbian has an uncanny knack of finding himself in the thick of it, which is great when it means a routine tap-in to put Fulham back on the winning way.
Box ticked at a sodden St Andrew’s after home keeper Lee Camp dropped Cyrus Christie’s cross into Mitrovic’s path.
By then the centreforward, who earlier had a goal chalked off for offside, was a fifth yellow card of the season down too and will miss the match against QPR.
The booking was for an off-the-ball altercation in the wake of a clash between youngster Jude Bellingham and Anthony Knockaert dismissed by both managers afterwards.
Mitrovic will never be a Goody Two-shoes, so Cottagers boss Scott Parker has to channel all that is positive from the forward and make the most of his quality when he is on the pitch.
Parker would not change a thing about Mitro though, insisting: “It’s part of his game and I want him to have it. That is what I want us to be about and that side of it is exactly that.
“He was pivotal. For all his goals, for everything that goes around him, all I ask of him is to forget the goals, just go and turn up and be the Mitrovic he can be. He looks like an absolute animal, chasing things down.
“That’s what we want from him. He is the talisman, the guy everyone looks to. There is no denying you have a prolific scorer, but I see him for a lot more. I see a man who can drive a team forward.”
Fulham were heavily criticised for losing to Hull last week and Parker threw down the challenge to his players.
This stop-the-rot threepointer was given a massive helping hand by Fulham’s young keeper Marek Rodak, who made a series of crucial saves.
Birmingham were convinced the goal should have been disallowed for a foul on Marc Roberts, but boss Pep Clotet admitted Camp should still have caught the ball.
He said: “We had 16 shots, they had 10. We had four on target and they had three. In the end of the day that is margins.”
BIRMINGHAM FULHAM 4 ........ Shots on Target ......... 3 8 ........ Shots off Target ......... 3 5 ................Corners ................. 7 12 ................. Fouls ....................8 1 ................ Offsides ................. 2 71.9.... Passing Success % ...80.6 391 ....... Total Passes ........505 44.3 .... Possession % ..... 55.7 52.8 .Territorial Adv % .. 47.2