Scott Parker praised his side’s ‘character’ after Fulham bounced back from two damaging defeats to record a valuable win in the local derby at Queens Park Rangers.

The Fulham manager was delighted that his team fought back from the shock of conceding the opening goal to Jordan Hugill inside the first minute and claimed all three points in the absence of the suspended Aleskandar Mitrovic. Parker told his post-match press conference that grabbing the three points was the important thing – and that he believed his side had been unfortunate in their first two outings since the resumption of the Championship season.

The result was key tonight. I don’t think we’ve got what we deserved against Brentford and Leeds. For large parts of both games, our performance was exceptional, but the team gets judged on wins and losses. After two losses, it was a key that we got the result.

QPR are a well-drilled team. We knew coming here would be very difficult and they were very aggressive. We showed character. To go a goal down early was very disappointing. It was poor and sloppy from us. The first goal is key, and we’ve struggled this season when we go a goal down, so to not drop our heads and to take the game to QPR was pleasing. We deserved to get our noses in front.

We worked on our set-up in a short period of time and it worked really well and caused them a few problems. There’ll be many more twists and turns in this division. Games come thick and fast. We just need to keep putting in performances and keep getting results. We need to stick to our process and if we do that, we’ll keep the pressure on.

Mitro will be a big loss. There’s a big responsibility now, but I’m pleased that the players have come in and got the win. There’s no hiding from the fact that we haven’t got a recognised forward in the squad other than Aleks, so the way the players took to the structure was spot on. I felt we had a fluidity and looked a threat. As disappointed as we are to lose Aleks, it’s an opportunity for others. We need them attacking players to step up. We’re aware every game is different. Like always, we adapted to give us options. There’s another side to us and we’ll have to play a different way, but I know we can do that.

Parker was also full of praise for Fulham’s matchwinner Cyrus Christie, whose adventurous display from right back was capped with a fine goal.

Cyrus did exceptionally well. Cyrus has had to sit and wait on occasions this year, and he’s maybe felt it’s been a bit unfair, but he deserved to get the winner due to his reaction and professionalism. The way he trains puts him in a position to earn that moment, and I’m very pleased for him