Fulham 2 – 1 Peterboro

Aleksandar Mitrovic became the first player to score 32 goals in a Sky Bet Championship season as Fulham extended their lead at the top of the table to nine points with a 2-1 win over Peterborough.

The Serbian’s first-half penalty saw him achieve the feat – with 14 games of the regular league campaign remaining – and he reached 33 for the current term with a second strike after the break.

Substitute Marriott pulled one back for relegation-threatened Peterborough at the death.

The visitors, watched by Grant McCann from the directors’ box ahead of his expected return to Posh as manager, made five changes from their defeat by Derby, including Harrison Burrows returning after injury.

They were almost punished after 10 minutes, when Mitrovic headed wide a cross by Neeskens Kebano.

Fulham continued to dominate Peterborough, pushing their backline without being able to find a decisive breakthrough.

Josh Knight was robbed of the ball by Kebano in the 23rd minute, but did well to run back and dispossess the midfielder as he ran in on goal.

Harrison Reid was unable to fully control the ball six yards from goal as he just failed to properly connect with a Mitrovic knockdown.

The Fulham pressure finally paid off in the 28th minute. Mitrovic was fouled in the area by Burrows and the Serbian converted the spot-kick to put the hosts ahead with his record-breaking goal.

After taking the lead, the west London side continued to press for a second, effectively keeping Peterborough in their own half.

Fulham started the second half as forceful in their attack as they were in the first period of the game.

Peterborough finally started to find their feet in the game though, putting their own pressure on the Fulham defence.

Their best chance of the contest so far came in the 57th minute. Jonson Clarke-Harris took a free-kick on the edge of the area and saw his effort deflected just over the bar.

It was as good as it got for Peterborough, as Fulham reapplied their pressure. Reed put over a first-time effort from a Bobby Decordova-Reid cross, after fine solo work by Neco Williams.

The lead was doubled just after the hour, when Mitrovic volleyed a cross from Kebano to effectively end the Peterborough resistance.

Fulham were looking for more goals, and substitute Ivan Cavaleiro forced goalkeeper Steven Benda to tip over in the 74th minute.

Fabio Carvalho showed impressive skill to work his way from the touchline to a shooting position in the 78th minute, after which he made Benda save his effort.

Benda denied Mitrovic a hat-trick with five minutes of regulation time remaining, when the Serbian found space after a Jean Michael Seri pass.

Peterborough gave themselves late hope, when substitute Marriott broke to finish past Marek Rodak, but the league leaders held on.

What the managers said…

Fulham’s Marco Silva: “Congratulations to him [Mitrovic]. The numbers speak for themselves. Thirty-three goals at the end of February, with 14 more games to play, it’s fantastic. What I like about him is he’s always demanding more and more and more. He knows that from tomorrow I’ll demand more and more from him. Mitro’s numbers reflect our philosophy and the players have bought into it. We’re creating and building something important.”

“At this level, we cannot make mistakes like we did for their goal. We have to be more aggressive – one goal reopened the game again. Our players know that we should not give them the moment to create chances to score a goal. It’s something to keep working with. It doesn’t matter what the position of our opponents is in the table, it will be tough if you don’t do the basics well.”

Peterborough caretaker Matthew Etherington: “It’s been a tough three days, it’s been an experience to say the least, but in terms of what we’ve asked them and in terms of shape of the team, I can’t ask for any more. I thought there were some outstanding performances tonight, against a really good Fulham side.

“I didn’t want to rip it all up and do something totally different, we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, so I used the formation the manager previously had prepared, but I thought I would just mix up the personnel. I’m proud if I’m being honest, it’s an experience I’ll look back on. My ultimate goal is to be full-time manager at Peterborough.”