Scott Parker bemoans Fulham defending and the ease of Preston North End's goals

Scott Parker has bemoaned the performance of his Fulham side and the ease of which Preston North End had for their goals.
Scott Parker had to watch on as his side suffered defeat 2-1 to Preston North End at Deepdale.Scott Parker had to watch on as his side suffered defeat 2-1 to Preston North End at Deepdale.
Scott Parker had to watch on as his side suffered defeat 2-1 to Preston North End at Deepdale.

Parker’s high-flying Fulham side arrived at Deepdale having won four of their last five games whilst sitting third in the Championship.

Goals from Sean Maguire and David Nugent either side of half time put North End 2-0 up before Aleksandar Mitrovic made it a tense end with a goal on 82 minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Lilywhites defended resolutely, despite Fulham goalkeeper Marek Rodak coming up for the last corner of the game, to see the result out at 2-1.

Speaking after the game, Fulham boss Parker was complimentary of PNE, but also critical of the performance of his own men.

He said: “They (Preston) did well. We knew what we were coming to tonight, they’ve been on a bad run with four defeats and they wanted to turn that around.

“It was a good performance from them. They didn’t have to work for their two goals too hard or do too much to earn them but it’s one of them things, they’ve done well.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The second goal was a poor goal really, it takes the breath out of us and kills our momentum but we finish the game strong. We finish the game huffing and puffing.

“It’s not our day today.

“At both ends of the pitch I don’t think we were good enough tonight.

“Defensively we gave away sloppy, cheap goals. I just felt at the top end of the pitch we lacked a real cutting edge.

“We got to the edge of the box pretty well, we got into the final third pretty well but lacked quality in that sense.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Aside from the three goals in the game, there could have also been tree red cards.

In the end, two were given, one to Fulham Denis Odoi for a late aerial challenge on Patrick Bauer and one to PNE’s Joe Rafferty for a poor tackle on Joe Bryan.

Ben Pearson may also count himself lucky for only seeing a yellow card for what replays showed to be a two-footed tackle on Josh Onomah; the Fulham boss didn’t see the lack of a third red card as a reason behind his sides defeat though.

“It looked a bad challenge from where I was standing at real time,” Parker explained. “I haven’t seen it back again.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I just looked at it quickly and it seemed like a red, it was a two footed challenge and obviously two footed challenges are dangerous play.

“That’s just one of them things.

“That isn’t the reason it hasn’t gone right for us tonight.

“In the end we huffed and puffed and hit the bar and we had some good opportunities, on another maybe we’re walking out of here with a draw.

“Overall the feeling I have right now is disappointment.”

“The facts are we go home empty-handed, we can’t do anything about that tonight.

“Decisions and what’s happened to this game are long gone now.”