Scott Parker professed himself ‘thrilled’ with an all-action performance that saw Fulham grind out a vital win at Nottingham Forest this evening.
The Fulham head coach praised his side for battling through a prolonged period of home pressure to cling onto the advantage earned for them by Harry Arter’s spectacular strike. Parker feels his side are now beginning to find their feet following the resumption after the coronavirus break, with this narrow success a third victory in a row.
Parker told the club’s official website:
“We came out of lockdown with a couple of defeats. But we have quickly bounced back and have won three in a row which is massive for us. Tonight for me it was not vintage us by any means. We didn’t show our dominance with the ball. But saying that there have been many times this season where we have played some fantastic stuff and still lost the match.
“Tonight my team showed another side to them. I often talk about what great teams have and that is a certain mentality. Sometimes you have to dig in deep and show a desperation to get the three points. A desperation to not let a 1-0 win slip away and I felt to a man my team showed that. I give them full credit.
“At this stage of the season you need to keep ticking along and win football matches. When you are playing against your closest rivals its pleasing to pick up the win. We need to keep performing and that will put us in good stead. We want to keep picking up momentum. Overall I am delighted that my team have showed another side tonight.”
“Tonight in front of us was a very good Nottingham Forest side. Next we have Cardiff on Friday night. We just have to focus on what we are doing. We can’t control what goes on above us or around us. We have to just keep winning football matches. We have to keep putting pressure on.”
Parker was particularly pleased that his side managed to extend their winning run without a number of key players.
“I think it is full credit to my team that we lost Mitro, Tom Cairney tonight, Aboubakar Kamara. We have had to change things around tactically over the last couple of weeks. We have had to be a little bit different. Fair play to them because they have adjusted very very well.
“The players have been spot on. We lost 23 goals from our team and all of a sudden goals have to come from somewhere else on the pitch. We spoke about that, we said people needed to stand up now and chip in to get results and keep moving forward. Harry has done that with two goals. Cyrus Christie has got one so that has been very positive. My players have been brilliant.”
The Fulham boss admitted that captain Cairney could miss Friday night’s meeting with Cardiff as a result of the injury he sustained in the closing stages of Saturday’s win against Birmingham.
“Games come thick and fast. I am not sure if we will be able to turn him around for Friday. We will have to see over the coming days and see exactly where he is and make a call.”
