Fulham vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
Craven CottageAttendance16,606.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Fulham and Millwall at Craven Cottage as two goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic took him up to 30 for the campaign; just one behind the Championship record set by Ivan Toney last season
Tuesday 8 February 2022 23:08, UK
Fulham increased their advantage at the top of the Championship with a 3-0 win over London neighbours Millwall.
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice at Craven Cottage, while Bobby De Cordova-Reid rounded off a fine evening for the hosts.
With the home side five points clear of Blackburn at the top of the Championship at the start of play, they were looking for a fast start.
However, they were almost undone early on when Oliver Burke picked up on an error by Antonee Robinson and ran half the length of the pitch - his cross-shot was only gathered by 'keeper Marek Rodak at the second attempt.
The visitors made the early running, and Maikel Kieftenbeld volleyed into the ground to send the ball over the bar in the seventh minute, following a Mason Bennett cross.
Fulham had their first attempt in the 10th minute when Neco Williams flashed an effort over the bar.
After an intense opening, the game settled down into one where neither side looked like they were going to break the deadlock.
However, Fulham took the lead just before the half-hour mark when Harry Wilson passed to Williams who was able to make his way to the by-line.
A cross back into the box took a kind deflection for Mitrovic, who was able to finish from close range, for his 29th league goal this season.
Fulham notably livened up after their opener, although captain Tom Cairney failed to find the target after controlling a Neeskens Kebano pass.
The lead was doubled five minutes after the break. After a period of pressure following a corner, where the ball found itself in a sea of bodies, Fabio Carvalho was able to connect to force Bartosz Bialkowski into a parry.
Mitrovic scored his second of the evening when he was first to the loose ball, turning past the shot-stopper.
The Serb almost added a third soon afterwards, but his turn and shot in the box went wide.
Millwall carved out a chance just before the hour mark, when Bennett put his first-time volley over the crossbar.
Bialkowski made two saves within the space of a minute - firstly, saving at the feet of Kebano, then turning away a Wilson curler at full stretch.
Rodak blocked a Jed Wallace effort before Bennett turned the resulting rebound wide of the post.
The Fulham shot-stopper blocked an effort from Benik Afobe, as the visitors attempted to gain a late foothold in the contest.
That hope was extinguished three minutes from time, when a run down the wing by Wilson found Carvalho, who laid off into the path of De Cordova-Reid to finish from close range.
Fulham's Marco Silva: "We must improve and be more consistent for the whole game, it's something we're working on. But we were the best team on the pitch. Keeping a clean sheet was really important for us, it was nice to have that feeling again. After the second goal we dropped a little bit of our intensity.
"We started the match slowly, and we did not have the quality at the beginning to play. We started to control the game, we know we had to deal with direct balls and second balls."
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "We performed really well for large parts of the game, we made the best side in the division with the best attacking quality a little bit uncomfortable. If you take their third goal out, because it was two yards offside, it was clear. Those are the moments.
"At 2-0 we have some absolute glaring chances. If we take them, then we get a chance at least of getting something out of the game. There were large bits of it that were really promising. We haven't had the points we've warranted. But it's the Championship."
