Scott Parker was left ‘deflated’ following Fulham’s 3-0 defeat at Leeds this afternoon – rueing the fact that his side couldn’t capitalise on what he considered an exceptional first half display at Elland Road.
“Overall, the first half especially, I thought we were exceptional. We came here with a purpose about us to go and win the game. We took it to a very good Leeds side who have navigated their way around this division for a few years now.
I thought we were superb in matching them. Ultimately over the course of the game, we need to be more clinical in the areas where we do carve out these chances. We need to put one away and with the efficiency of Leeds in the second half, they were better in the final third.”
The Fulham boss refused to throw in the towel on his side’s automatic promotion challenge despite a second damaging defeat since the Championship’s resumption.
“It’s going to be a big ask. I wouldn’t write it off yet. The reason being is we’re in a world where the unexpected can happen. The way division is, and you’ve seen in the first two games that can be the case. We came here wanting to win the game and our ambition is to still keep going and we will do that.”
Parker refused to comment on Aleksandar Mitrovic’s elbow on Leeds defender Ben White in the early stages of the contest, which could be the subject of further review by the FA.
“I’ve not seen the incident at the moment. During the game I didn’t actually see it as an issue. I’ve not seen it over again so it would be unfair for me to comment at this stage.”
Parker was similarly non-committal on what looked like a strong Fulham penalty shout for handball.
“The players did seem to think it was a handball, it’s bounced up a little bit. It did look like a handball instantly, but I’ve not seen it again, so it would be unfair for me to pass judgement on it. I don’t think just the one penalty claim sums the first half up. We were very good, and we needed to be clinical when we did pressure them. It was similar to last week where something needs to go in. As the game goes on, we conceded another couple.”
