Ranieri praises second half performance following dramatic win

Claudio Ranieri praised Fulham as the Cottagers left it late to secure a vital 1-0 against relegation rivals Huddersfield Town.

The West London side secured a huge three points at Craven Cottage to add some momentum to their challenge for Premier League safety as Aleksandar Mitrovic’s stoppage-time winner put Fulham one point away from safety behind Southampton, who have a game in hand.

Speaking to the media, Ranieri said:

“I believe in fighting till the end. The first half was very difficult for us because we knew they press a lot in the front, and we lost a lot of balls because of this.

“In the second half, we improved with the pressing. We found the solution, we created better chances to score some goals. It was good, and in the end of the match it was important to get the three points and the clean sheet.”

“He did not respect me, the club, his teammates, the crowd”

One important moment of the match was when Fulham were awarded a penalty in the 83^rd minute following a Chris Rowe handball in the area.

Mitrovic was poised to take the spot-kick, but Aboubakar Kamara insisted on taking the penalty. Th pair argued for some time and to compound the unsavoury sight the French winger missed the spot kick.

Speaking about the penalty drama, Ranieri said:

“It’s not possible or easy to explain what happened. When the man only thinks about himself, it’s not right. He didn’t respect me, the club, his teammates, the crowd. He didn’t listen to reason.

“Mitrovic is the penalty taker. It’s impossible to speak to this man (Kamara) when he is the mindset of ‘I want to shoot’. He hasn’t apologised, he doesn’t understand the reason why we are annoyed. It is the first time in my life I have experienced something like this.”