Marco Silva hailed Aleksandar Mitrovic after he set a new Sky Bet Championship goalscoring record but the Fulham boss urged his side to tighten up despite watching them beat managerless Peterborough 2-1.
Two record-breaking goals from Mitrovic sealed the victory – with 33, the Serbian has now scored more in one season since the league was rebranded in 2004 than any other player – although a late strike by Posh substitute Jack Marriott made the win less than comfortable in the end.
Silva told club media after the match: “Congratulations to him. 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.”
Silva felt that the late goal was something that could have been avoided.
He said: “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.”
Mitrovic was fouled in the area by Harrison Burrows in the 28th minute and the Serbian converted the resulting spot-kick to put the hosts ahead with his 32nd of the season.
The lead was doubled just after the hour, when Mitrovic volleyed a cross from Neeskens Kebano to seemingly end the Peterborough resistance.
Visiting keeper Steven Benda kept the scoreline down, denying Ivan Cavaleiro, Fabio Carvalho and Mitrovic.
Peterborough gave themselves late hope when substitute Marriott broke to finish past Marek Rodak, but the league leaders held on.
With Grant McCann at the game – the former Posh and Hull manager has been strongly linked with the permanent position following Darren Ferguson’s resignation – interim boss Matthew Etherington was happy with the effort shown.
He said: “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.”
