Fulham head coach Slavisa Jokanovic heaped praise on birthday boy Emerson Hyndman after his injury-time strike to beat Cardiff City secured a third straight league win for the Whites.
The Texan midfielder’s first senior goal was a fitting reward for a fine performance on the right side of the Fulham midfield that belied his tender twenty years. Hyndman, who has been linked with a move away from Craven Cottage in the summer, has caught Jokanovic’s eye in his three and a half months at the club and the Serbian admits that he probably should have found more game time for the gifted playmaker.
Today is his birthday. It’s a great present for himself and for all of us in the last moment of the game. He’s probably one of the more talented players. I am little bit disappointed with myself that I haven’t found more minutes for him this season.
He probably needs to be a little bit stronger for the Championship. But he’s a young guy and he will be a very good footballer for us.
Jokanovic conceded that he might have been to blame for Fulham’s rather insipid start against promotion-chasing Cardiff after two important league wins had lifted them clear of the relegation zone, but their second half display was much more assured.
We didn’t play a good football game in the first 45 minutes. That could be my mistake. Maybe my message was a bit confused. The second half was a game we want to play.
We’ve had one perfect week where we’ve won three games but in front of us is five games more. Mathematically, we are 10 points ahead. It’s 15 points needed, so we need five points more to be 100 per cent sure.
