Silva hails Fulham’s tough guys
ALEKSANDAR MITROVIC
continued his record-breaking form when he grabbed his 34th goal of an incredible season to keep Fulham firmly on course for a Premier League return.
Mitrovic made it 12 goals in his last nine Championship matches when he headed into the corner from Harry Wilson’s cross.
The victory maintained Fulham’s nine-point lead over Bournemouth.
‘It was tough,’ Fulham boss Marco Silva said. ‘It is always hard to come here and play and we had to be resilient.
‘We knew what type of game it would be. We always expect first and second balls and balls in our box. Apart from one moment when we slept completely, we dealt well with the situation.
‘We controlled big parts of the match. We were a bit slower than I wanted but we created enough, we were the best team and deserved the three points.’
Cardiff’s squad had been hit with a stomach bug in the build up. But it was the home side that first came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 13th minute.
James Collins raced clear on to Alex Smithie’s goal-kick but could not find the net when one-on-one with Fulham keeper Marek Rodak.
Fulham went on to carve out the better chances, Mitrovic spurning one before he did find the net to continue his remarkable scoring campaign — his 34-goal haul is three more than Brentford frontman Ivan Toney’s previous Championship best. The Serb could have another 13 matches to play.
It was a spirited effort from Cardiff, but nevertheless they slipped to 20th in the table after one win in their past four games.
Manager Steve Morrison said: ‘It was one of the toughest 24 hours I’ve had as a manager. We’ve had a nightmare with sickness.
‘But I couldn’t be prouder. I thought the lads were fantastic, gone toe to toe with Fulham and limited them to the least amount of shots they’ve had all season.’