Fulham target bigger prize after securing play-off place

Posted Wednesday, April 11, 2018 by PA

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic insists his side do not have an advantage over Cardiff in the Championship promotion race despite moving above their South Wales rivals following a 1-0 victory over Reading.

Stefan Johansen’s first half goal ensured the Cottagers earned a nervy victory and combined with Cardiff’s defeat at Aston Villa they moved to up to second place.

But Jokanovic, who saw his side guarantee a top six finish, said: “The table’s not important, the situation is still not under our control as Cardiff have one game more. This is the situation. We are not thinking so much about the position.

“On one hand we’ve guaranteed one target, the play-offs. The next step is the Brentford game and we will be aiming to win the game.

“We are really satisfied. We had a lot of desire but were not clinical enough. We showed our ambition to win the game. We know we must be ready for the next step.

“I don’t know how Cardiff feel. We’ve made our first target. We need to be ready for our next step. Everything is in their hands and we want to make it our job to put them under pressure.

“It’s possible many things and we need to be ready for next step.

“We must be calm and show desire and ambition. We still need to recover ourselves and try and win the next three points.

“But this is a crazy competition.”

Johansen scored the winner in the 25th minute from Matt Targett’s cross but could not break Reading down otherwise and it was not until Leandro Bacuna’s red card for an injury time lunge at Ryan Sessegnon that victory could be contemplated.

“I’m disappointed with the red card,” said Reading manager Paul Clement. “We lose a very good player for the next games, we have some very important games.

“You could see with the body language he’s disappointed. But we’re all disappointed. We’ve lost someone important.

“I thought the challenge was reckless and showed some frustration we weren’t going to get the result.

“It’s a strange statistic that I’ve had three red cards in four games and I did not have any at my two previous clubs.

“I thought it was a good, competitive game. Congratulations to Fulham as there was a lot of pressure on them.

“Their fans knew that Cardiff were losing. But we did not make it easy for them and I was pleased with lots of things my players did, especially in the first half. I thought we had some good opportunities before the goal.

“I was pleased with the defensive shape but we were fatigued in the second half and it was more difficult. You never know in football.”