Marco Silva hails Fulham’s ‘fantastic numbers’ as winning win continues

Marco Silva saluted Fulham for their “fantastic numbers” after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Peterborough.

A sixth consecutive victory for Silva’s men came complete with a fifth clean sheet in a row and was earned by heroes at both ends of the pitch.

Championship top-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic headed his 20th goal of an incredible season when converting a Neeskens Kebano cross in the 74th minute to clinch the win.

But Fulham were reliant on fine saves from goalkeeper Marek Rodak and the woodwork to emerge with a first-ever league win against Posh.

The giant Slovakian’s string of smart stops included denying the hosts a leveller by finger-tipping a Jonson Clarke-Harris effort against the post late on.

Striker Clarke-Harris had also been denied by the woodwork in the first half as battling Posh gave the visitors a major scare.

Silva said: “Six wins in a row with five clean sheets in a row is amazing.

“They are fantastic numbers for us and the key for our win was the passion we had throughout the game.

“Aleksandar has been brilliant for us and it is up to me to always push him and demand more, but for me it is a collective process and it is not just one player.

“We saw today that Kebano created the chance for ‘Mitro’ to show his fantastic capacity around the box to score the goal.

“We are lucky to have two great goalkeepers and fantastic competition between them.

“Marek knows the confidence we have in him and he has been fantastic since he came into the team.

“It was a tough game just as we expected. Peterborough are always difficult to beat when they play against the best sides in this league at home.

“But overall we deserved the three points as we were the best team on the pitch from the start to the finish.

“I have to talk about our fans too. They were with us from the warm-up to the final whistle and it is great to be on the same page with them.”

Posh boss Darren Ferguson could not hide his disappointment after a 10th defeat since their return to the Championship.

He said: “It’s a rubbish result in a game we felt we could win… and a game we should have won.

“I don’t want everyone to say ‘well done’ and ‘good performance’ because the truth is it is a game we shouldn’t have lost.

“When we have a game like that against a team like Fulham and have four or five really good opportunities, you have to take them and win.

“This is probably as disappointed as I’ve been all season because it was there to be won.

“Fulham are a good team full of quality, but our shape was good, we pressed at the right times, we caused them problems when we passed the ball – just like I thought we could.

“But again the goal we conceded is a bad one. You can’t give the leading goalscorer in the country a free header from four yards. He’s not missing from there.

“I’m frustrated because we should be further up the league table. I want to see the good players we have believe as much as I do.

“They are good enough but we just need to change something to get ourselves more points.”