Scott Parker hailed a fantastic Fulham performance that put his side firmly in control of their Championship play-off semi final after two second half goals gave the Whites victory over Cardiff.
Parker’s side made light of the absence of Aleksandar Mitrovic, who wasn’t risked for the first leg after picking up a hamstring problem in training on Sunday, by carving out a strong advantage thanks to strikes from Josh Onomah and Neeskens Kebano. The Fulham boss was delighted by the way his side adapted to proceedings after making a slow start, eventually dominating possession and limiting Cardiff to very few openings.
Parker told his post-match press conference:
“Overall it was a very, very good performance for us, a strong performance. “We weathered a little bit of a storm early on in the game, but we understood what we were coming into and we knew what we had to do. We got a foothold in the game, we had a real control about us, kept the ball very, very well.
He said that there were a few stern words in the dressing room at half time and his tactical tweaks paid almost immediate dividends, with Onomah opening the scoring with a sensational individual goal.
“We probably lacked a little bit of an impetus, certainly in the first half, so we changed things around a little bit second half in terms of our positioning and looked to be more of a threat and cause Cardiff some problems. Second half we executed that plan very, very well. We showed a real quality about us and were well worthy of the two goal lead.
Parker warned his charges not to take anything for granted as he expects Cardiff to make a fast start at Craven Cottage on Thursday.
This tie is only halfway through. There’s still a lot of football to be played. I also understand that what got us the result today was a team that worked their socks off, a team that was organised out of possession and nullified them to very few chances. That’s what you saw second half, there was a foundation about us that was built on concrete today. And from that you see players’ skill, you see a fluidness about us, and we need to do that again in the next game. We need to understand it’s only half done, we need to be professional.
The 2nd half was just like the home game against Millwall when we passed them to death,nice early one thursday then really turn it on.