Mitrovic nets winner as Fulham sink Brentford – Sporting Life

Abraham Smith

Fulham sealed their first Premier League win by beating Brentford 3-2 on Saturday thanks to a late winner from Aleksandar Mitrovic after Bobby De Cordova-Reid scored the season’s fastest goal and Joao Palhinha headed in.

Mitrovic appeared to regret several missed chances but put himself ahead in the 90th minute with a header from a Kevin Mbabu cross after Brentford’s Ivan Toney leveled to make it 2-2 in the 71st minute of a breathless encounter at Craven Cottage.

“Incredible feeling,” said Serb Mitrovic, who has scored three goals this season. “I think it was a good derby. Lots of goals, turnovers and in the end we got the win.”

“We made it difficult for ourselves and in the end I managed to score. (Brentford goalkeeper) David Raya made it difficult. I missed a lot of chances and a lot of ups and downs, but I never gave up. I stayed calm and kept believing.”

The result means Marco Silva’s side are unbeaten after three games, having drawn 2-2 against Liverpool in their opener before a goalless draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out.

“The coach has changed the club, our way of playing and our beliefs,” added Mitrovic. “We never give up. Today we earned three points. We’re happy with the first three points and we’re still unbeaten after three games.”

Earlier, the first high-profile clash between the west London rivals got off to a quick start when De Cordova-Reid bundled the ball home after 44 seconds from a scramble in the penalty area, with the visitors paying for a cheap turnover.

Summer signing Palhinha then rose confidently and nodded off a superb cross from fellow midfielder Andreas Pereira with Fulham’s second goal in the 20th minute as the hosts looked poised to put Thomas Frank’s side to the sword.

But Brentford, second best for most of the opening period, clawed back a goal before the break through an unmarked Christian Norgaard when the Danish midfielder’s booming volley flew past goalkeeper Bernd Leno to give them a lifeline.

Also read: EPL: Adams scores twice as Southampton Seal wins at Leicester

Both teams threatened after the restart when Brentford’s Toney was twice denied by the video assistant referee, while fellow Fulham Mitrovic also spurned a number of chances before counting his last.

“It’s disappointing,” Toney said. “That hurt. We were far from it for the first 30 minutes. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and ended up giving away the goal.

“We have to learn from this. We were up front in the second half and overwhelmed them, but we could have played into our hands more than them.

“You have to keep playing and doing what you do best. Sometimes we needed a bit of composure to get around them, especially in the last 20 minutes.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *