Mitrovic scores twice as Fulham thump QPR
Aleksander Mitrovic scored twice as Fulham returned to winning ways in comfortable fashion in the west London derby at Craven Cottage.
Mitrovic scored Fulham’s first and then second goal after Rangers had equalised through Lyndon Dyke,s with substitute Bobby Decordova-Reid and a Jordy de Wijs deflection adding some extra late gloss to the scoreline.
The Whites dominated the opening exchanges and took a deserved lead after just 11 minutes when Mitrovic’s superb shot on the turn from a Neeskens Kebano cross found the bottom right corner.
The big Serb almost doubled his side’s lead from a corner that Rangers failed to deal with, but Seny Dieng made two fine close-range saves to deny him a second goal.
Chris Willock almost put the visitors on level terms when he brought down a Moses Odubajo cross but his stinging half-volley rattled the inside of the post.
Fulham continued to press before half-time with Harry Wilson shooting just wide as Rangers went to the break fortunate to be only a goal down.
R’s boss Mark Warburton withdrew the struggling Dom Ball at half-time for Dykes to partner Charlie Austin up front and the move paid instant dividends with the Scotland striker levelling the scores with a smart finish after Willock split the Fulham defence with a fine ball.
The goal led to the visitors’ best spell of the game but the introduction of Antonee Robinson for the injured Joe Bryan turned the game back in Fulham’s favour – Robinson had a big hand in all three of Fulham’s second-half goals.
His driving run set up Mitorovic’s second, with Kebano once again putting the ball into the box with a smart cross with the striker beating Dieng with a fine header.
Decordova-Reid wrapped up the three points when he escaped Jimmy Dunne and fired into the bottom corner to finish off a smart move started by Robinson who then saw his speculative effort canon off De Wijs and into the net late in the game.
Fulham: Rodak, Odoi, Ream, Adarabioyo, Bryan (Robinson 55), Reed, Seri, Ivan Cavaleiro (De Cordova-Reid 33), Wilson (Chalobah 70) Kebano, Mitrovic.
Subs not used: Cairney, Rodrigo Muniz, Gazzaniga, Mawson.
QPR: Dieng, Dickie, De Wijs, Barbet, Odubajo, Ball (Dykes 45), Johansen, McCallum (Dunne 65), Chair, Willock, Austin (Gray 70).
Subs not used: Amos, Archer, Adomah, Duke-Mckenna.
16/10/2021 @ 11:10 pm
Fundamentally the financial relative riches of Fulham (ex premier league with parashoot payments) was clear to see – just look at the bench. That being said, yes I think we were too cautious and timid in the first half. Bringing on Dykes coinciding with a mentality change to be on the front foot was exciting and brought a deserved equalizer… However, a magnificent header from Mitrovic (Superstar at championship level…anonymous at premier league) seemed to knock the stuffing out…and it was backwards and chasing from there on. Not so disheartened. TBH The premier league to Championship differential is so great that I see West Brom, Fulham (despite their shock defeat to Coventry) walking away with automatic places… question is with a strong Bournemouth is there any chance for anyone else? I think yes…. QPR can make the playoffs
16/10/2021 @ 3:06 pm
QPR promotion candidates? not on this showing, Must try harder comes to mind, we are miles better than this sad excuse for a display.