Fulham 2-0 Cardiff City
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Tom Cairney celebrates his goal, his first since October 2020
Fulham climbed to second place in the Championship with a win over Cardiff City to intensify the pressure on Bluebirds manager Mick McCarthy.
Both sides hit the woodwork in an open and unexpectedly even first half.
Substitute Tom Cairney returned after nearly a year out injured to put Fulham ahead with a beautiful strike.
Aleksandar Mitrovic added the hosts' second as Cardiff slumped to a seventh straight league defeat for the first time since 1934.
A convincing second-half display sees Fulham leapfrog West Bromwich Albion into the automatic promotion places after the Baggies lost at Swansea City.
As for Cardiff, although this performance was a vast improvement on Sunday's dismal 3-0 derby thrashing at Swansea, a seventh successive defeat still leaves McCarthy clinging on to his job with Cardiff now down to 21st in the table.
Some fans had called for him to be sacked long before last weekend's debacle, and it is believed the club's hierarchy only stuck with the former Republic of Ireland manager because they did not want to burden a potential successor with a fixture as daunting as Fulham away.
As such, this game at Craven Cottage and Saturday's match at home to Middlesbrough are thought to be McCarthy's last chance.
His team were overwhelming underdogs against a Fulham side led in attack by the Championship's top scorer Mitrovic, who now has more goals than the entire Cardiff squad this season.
The home side were quick to seize control of possession and force Cardiff back into their own half - but it was the Bluebirds who had the game's first chance as Kieffer Moore's audacious first-time left-footed effort from a tight angle cannoned into the post.
The first half was played at a furious pace as both sides attacked with intent and, seven minutes later, the woodwork was shaking once more.
Fulham's former Cardiff midfielder Harry Wilson looked to be clean through on goal but instead of shooting, he backheeled the ball to Neeskens Kebano, whose low strike hit the post.
Further scoring opportunities followed at both ends, with Harrison Reed going close for Fulham, and Rubin Colwill and Mark McGuinness threatening for Cardiff.
The second half did not reach the frantic heights of the first and that appeared to suit Fulham, who fashioned the first opening as Mitrovic had a header saved by Alex Smithies.
The home side then made the breakthrough with a hugely popular goal at Craven Cottage as midfielder Cairney marked his first appearance since December 2020 by guiding a characteristically elegant left-footed shot into the top corner.
Six minutes later the match was over as a contest, as Fulham punished slack Cardiff defending to set up Mitrovic inside the penalty area and the Serbian finished confidently to notch his 13th goal of the season.
Cardiff offered resistance - with Aden Flint and Moore among those to go close - but despite some signs of improvement, yet another defeat did little for McCarthy's job prospects and left his side tumbling further down the table, just one place and two points above the relegation zone.
Cardiff manager Mick McCarthy:
"It leaves me on the back end of a real horrible run of results. If football is true to its usual stuff, we know what happens - but I can't do anything about that.
"We've come back in off a bad defeat against Swansea, we've certainly had a better performance and I'll be doing exactly the same for Middlesbrough until I'm told differently.
"If we perform like that against other teams then we'll win games, but I'm afraid Fulham were too good and too strong for us."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58893453
Post-Cardiff Press Conference
Marco Silva was happy to see Fulham’s patience pay dividends against Cardiff City.
We went into the break level despite dominating the first half, but kept persisting and came away with a 2-0 victory courtesy of efforts from Tom Cairney and Aleksandar Mitrović.
“We can take many positives from the game,” Silva said. “[If we score] some chances we had in the first half, of course the game can be different.
“But it is important in these type of moments, even if we don’t score like we normally do, to keep patience, keep playing our game.
“I told them at half-time, some things that we should change for the second half; we don’t have to rush our decisions, keep the right mindset and balance in our decisions, when we have to put speed in our game, when we have move the ball quick, but to keep some positions as well.
“It was important, the first goal, it is always important for us, the game will be more open. We know the space will be there as well.
“2-0, we deserve the three points clearly for us, clean sheet and important to see an important player like Tom come back and help us with the first goal.”
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Cairney’s opener was a poignant moment, with our Club Captain marking his first appearance in 10 months in style after replacing the injured Harrison Reed.
“You can imagine how he was,” Silva stated. “His feelings in that moment, helping the team in a moment when we need him.
“After the problem with Harrison Reed, as you know I have two solutions to decide; him or Josh Onomah.
“In that moment I felt the team needed a player to move the ball well, to give us more creativity in that position.
“If he is not the happiest, he is one of the happiest guys in the dressing room.”
https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2021/october/20/post-cardiff-press-conference/