Parker tells Fulham to ‘keep pushing’ for automatic promotion

Manager Scott Parker praised his Fulham players after they defeated Cardiff City to guarantee a Championship top-six place – and urged them to target automatic promotion.

The Whites were worthy 2-0 winners in the closed-doors Craven Cottage clash, courtesy of a penalty by Aleksandar Mitrovic – returning from a three-match suspension – and a second half strike by Josh Onomah.

It was the fourth successive win for the Whites.

“First and foremost, I was pleased with the result and the win,” said Parker.

“We had to stand up to a challenge, which was always going to be there from a strong, physical Cardiff team.

“I thought 2-0 was a fair result and we’ve had some big chances. Overall, I’m pleased with the resilience we showed.

“The top two is there and we need to keep pushing. I’m delighted that we got to the play-offs.”

Fulham retain an outside chance of a top-two finish with three games left, ahead of a crunch game at second-placed West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday.

And although four points separate the teams – with the Whites having played a game more – Parker insisted his men must keep their focus.

“To get to the play-offs, we’ve done well,” he admitted.

“We’ve got a big game on Tuesday. Four points is the gap and they do have that game in hand on us.

“We’ll go there looking for a result to keep the pressure going. We can assess from there how we’re looking. We’ll keep pushing and keep going until the end.”