TOM CAIRNEY’S car window turned out to be perfect target practice for Aleksandar Mitrovic to prove himself in the Prem.
The Serbia striker gave Fulham the bragging rights in their first Prem derby against local rivals Brentford with a towering last-minute header.
But his shooting was not as sharp in the week after he broke captain Cairney’s windscreen in training with a wayward effort.
Mitrovic, 27, said: “It’s true I broke Tom’s window but it was not on purpose. His car was behind the goal when we were finishing in training.
“I mishit a shot, the ball went over the fence and it was so hot that day and it hit the windscreen and broke it.”
Cairney’s younger brother Jack told the Serb to keep on breaking windows if it allows him to continue his goalscoring form after three goals in three games.
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He tweeted alongside lovestruck emojis: “Mitrovic you can smash my brother’s windscreen any day of the week if you keep doing that.”
While Cairney himself posted a picture of Mitro cheekily grinning while posing in front of the smashed motor.
The midfielder wrote: “He sent this into the group chat 😤 looks like he feels really guilty don’t you think.”
Mitrovic had a handful of efforts saved by Bees keeper David Raya, before finding a breakthrough in the 90th minute.
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It means the Serb has already matched his Prem tally from two seasons ago when the side were relegated.
But after hitting a record-breaking 43 goals in the Championship last term and starting this campaign in red-hot form, Mitrovic feels he has always been a top-flight striker.
He added: “It was a good derby day. I don’t care about the critics. I knew I belonged here.
“I feel good. I am enjoying the Premier League and I am happy.
“Helping the teams and working hard is all I am looking for.
“The critics are always going to have different opinions. I don’t really care about it.”
Mitrovic’s winner stifled a Brentford comeback as strikes from Christian Norgaard and Ivan Toney before and after the break got them back level.
That was after efforts from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Joao Palhinha put the Cottagers 2-0 up on 20 minutes.
It signalled a reality check for the Bees as they travelled to Craven Cottage on a high after thrashing Manchester United 4-0.
But defender Ben Mee claims Thomas Frank’s side did not get complacent following their record win over the Red Devils.
He said: “We got back to business the Monday afterwards and the group is in a good place.
“You saw the mentality coming from 2-0 down to 2-2, so I don’t think that was a problem.
“Early start and the mistake, the crowd was up and it’s a difficult place to come, it’s a tight ground.
“It was a bad day for us but there are plenty of positives. We felt confident coming in. We didn’t get off to a great start and it’s an uphill battle from there.
“I thought we dug in and got back into the game but ultimately we didn’t do enough.”
Mee felt Fulham were lucky not to go down to ten men after he needed medical attention when Palhinha crunched him with a cynical aerial challenge.
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He added: “It felt like a bad one but the referee said he has not led with his arm, he just jumped into me.
“It felt like he did it on purpose but he got away with it, he got a yellow card.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
