Aleksandar Mitrović was beaming at full-time of Fulham’s derby with Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
For much of the afternoon it looked like Bees goalkeeper David Raya would come out on top of their personal duel, but the big man powered home a 90th minute winner to send Craven Cottage into delirium.
“An amazing, amazing feeling,” he admitted. “It was a good derby day, a lot of goals, turnovers, and in the end we managed to get the win.
“We made it difficult for ourselves – we had a good 35 minutes first half, then we slowed the tempo, they were coming, then they scored two goals.
“At the end I managed to get the goal. I missed a couple of chances but I kept going, we stayed in the game, and in the end I managed to get the goal.
“[Raya] made it so hard for me. I missed a couple of chances, lots of ups and downs – the story of my life, I could say – but I never gave up.
“I believed one ball would come, and if it came I needed to be ready, and that’s what happened.
“I stayed calm, kept believing. It was a great cross, a good header, and a big three points for us. Our first win this season.
“It was a proper derby, everyone enjoyed it – the fans, us on the pitch. I think our Manager didn’t enjoy it that much, but at the end I’m sure he was happy!
“We are happy as well, we got that first three points, still undefeated after three games. We keep believing, keep working hard, and focus on the next one.”
The victory put the Whites onto five points and temporarily had us sitting fourth in the Premier League standings, and Mitrović attributed full credit to Marco Silva.
“The Manager’s changed the Club, changed the way we play, changed the way we believe,” he explained. “We never give up, and we showed that.
“We started well, then we conceded two goals, but in the end we managed to get three points. We believed until the end, and we deserved three points.”
Mitrović’s former teammate Ivan Toney grabbed Brentford’s equaliser and duly mimicked the Serb’s celebration – a bold move considering there was still more than 20 minutes to play.
“Everybody has idols. He used to play with me at Newcastle and he was my boy,” Mitro said. “My idol was Shearer and I am probably his idol.”
