The Guardian
The Fulham caretaker manager, Scott Parker, hopes successive Premier League victories provides some consolation for the club’s disillusioned fans following a torrid season of struggle, which will end in relegation.
Fulham followed up last Saturday’s victory over Everton to earn a first away success of the campaign.
Aleksandar Mitrovic’s second-half penalty secured victory after he was brought down in the penalty area by the substitute Jack Simpson.
Parker, who replaced the sacked Claudio Ranieri in February, believes it is crucial to reconnect with disgruntled supporters before their return to the Championship.
“Really satisfying, back-to-back wins, another clean sheet as well.
It’s been a good day really,” he said.
“Eight weeks ago, I spoke about the fans, I spoke about how distant they’d become from the team and one of my main aims was trying to bring the fans together, or certainly a lot closer to the team.
| Match Stats |
Bournemouth |
Fulham |
| Goals |
(0) 0 |
1 (0) |
|
| Scorers |
|
Mitrovic pen 53 |
| , |
| Goal attempts |
15 |
17 |
| On target |
5 |
5 |
| Shooting Accuracy |
33% |
29% |
| Possession |
49% |
51% |
| Passes |
444 |
457 |
| Passes Success |
83% |
83% |
| Crosses |
11 |
17 |
| Crosses Success |
27% |
41% |
| Corners |
3 |
7 |
| Tackles |
21 |
13 |
| Tackles Success |
48% |
77% |
| Saves |
4 |
5 |
| Fouls |
11 |
18 |
| Offsides |
0 |
0 |
| Yellows |
1 |
0 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source: SkySports |
“They’ve been first-class and I am really pleased that the last two games we’ve got two wins.
OK it’s just something small in terms of how the season has gone for them but hopefully they’ve had a good couple of weekends. ”
Mitrovic converted from the spot eight minutes into the second period to end a nine-match goal drought dating back to January.
The slender but deserved win was Fulham’s first on the road in the league since beating Millwall in the second tier on this day last year and the first time they have won successive league games all season.
“It was a fine performance after having to weather the storm a little bit against a very good Bournemouth side, certainly at home,” said Parker.
I thought as we got through that we put our mark on the game and then second half really controlled the game and played some lovely bits.
”It was Bournemouth’s fifth successive home game without victory and followed a thumping 5-0 win at Brighton last Saturday.
Eddie Howe, who was taking charge of his 500th game, was at a loss to explain how his side lost their goal-scoring touch.
“Hugely frustrating, especially after last week where we were so good,” he said.
We started the first half really, really well.
I thought it was going to be a really good day for us.
“We were sharp with the ball, created opportunities and I think that’s the thing we need to look at today, the amount of presentable opportunities we had.
The fact we didn’t score after being so clinical last weekend is a difficult one to work out.”
Bournemouth’s preparation was disrupted after right-back Adam Smith was injured in the warm-up and his replacement, Junior Stanislas, limped off after 23 minutes.
With a number of other defensive injuries, that left the hosts with a four-man backline comprising four centre-backs and Howe admitted his side suffered as a consequence.
“When you lose a player of Adam’s quality that was difficult for the team but then doubly difficult to lose Junior as well,” Howe said.
“Upon that injury we’re then left with four centre-halves across our backline, so that was a difficult one for us to overcome.
“We never fully got our rhythm back in the match and we just hope the injuries aren’t serious. ”
Bournemouth : Boruc, Stanislas (Simpson 23), Mepham (Mousset 76), S Cook, Ake, Brooks, Gosling, Lerma, Fraser, King (Solanke 61), Wilson
Unused substitutes: Begovic, Hyndman, Ofoborh, Surridge
Booked: Cook (80,f),
Fulham: Rico, Odoi, Le Marchand, Ream, Bryan, Chambers, Anguissa (Nordtveit 89), R Sessegnon, Seri (Christie 80), Babel (Ayite 86), Mitrovic
Unused substitutes: Fabri, Kebano, Schürrle, Elliott
Goals:
Mitrovic 53 pen (converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner. Penalty Fulham. Aleksandar Mitrovic draws a foul in the penalty area.)
Booked: Chambers (59,f), Mitrovic (75,f), Rico (90+1,tw),
Referee:
David Coote (Nottinghamshire)
Attendance: 10,511