Slavisa Jokanovic still chasing top-two finish after Fulham beat Norwich

Posted Saturday, March 31, 2018 by PA

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic asmits his side will need a helping hand if they are to secure automatic promotion from the Sky Bet Championship.

The Cottagers stretched their unbeaten run to 17 games with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Norwich but remain seven points behind second-placed Cardiff, who also secured a home win over Burton.

The Bluebirds also have a game in hand but Jokanovic is not ruling out a top-two finish for his in-form team.

“We know we need some help from Wolves and Cardiff but if they give us some help then we have to be in a position to take advantage,” he said.

“It’s not in our hands, so all we concentrate on are our own games. There are seven games left, 21 points to play for.

“This is another big challenge out of the way and now we have to prepare for another big challenge at home to Leeds on Tuesday night.

“We just have to keep picking up good results and then see what happens in May. But I am not worried about that now, it’s only the next game I am thinking of.”

Jokanovic was pleased with the way his side pushed on after dominating the first half without creating any clear-cut chances.

“In the first half we had a lot of the ball but struggled to find space and didn’t look like scoring,” he said.

“In the second half I was pleased to see the players take a few more risks higher up the pitch and that led to us getting the goals.

“I thought we looked a little bit tired at times. These sort of games immediately after the international break are never easy because we always have a lot of players travelling around the world but it’s a good win and now we look forward to Leeds.”

Having dominated possession without seriously troubling the home defence, Fulham struck twice in four minutes midway through the second period to seal the points and stretch their club record unbeaten run to 17 games.

The opener arrived on 66 minutes when Angus Gunn could only parry a close-range header from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Stefan Johansen was on hand to fire home the loose ball.

The second goal was scored by fellow midfielder Tom Cairney, who was in the perfect position to convert after defender Timm Klose failed to deal with a cross from the right.

Norwich manager Daniel Farke felt his side should have taken something from the game.

“To be honest I would be disappointed if we had taken just a point from this game because I thought we played really well against a very good side,” he said.

“This certainly showed we can compete at the top level in this league.

“I was delighted with the performance and the commitment shown by the lads.”