Scott Parker reacts as Newcastle United handed opportunity by Fulham defeat

The third-bottom club went into last night’s game against Leeds United knowing a win would lift them out of the relegation zone – and above 17th-placed Newcastle United.

However, Fulham were beaten 2-1 by Marcelo Bielsa’s team – and former United midfielder Parker had no complaints. The club is two points behind Newcastle, who have two games in hand.

“I’m disappointed,” said Parker. “I don’t think we deserved anything out of the game, really – I think the better team won.

“We struggled at times – the one thing you don’t want against Leeds, in terms of the intensity and the game, you don’t want the game to become a bit of a basketball match, and at times I thought we struggled.

“The pressure they put you under, you need to make good decisions and we struggled at those moments. In saying that, we get ourselves back in the game at half-time at 1-1 and looked a threat on set-plays.

“Then second half, goals change games, and we missed a massive chance to put ourselves ahead at 2-1, and then 20-odd seconds later, we’re picking the ball out of our net to go 2-1 down.

“There’s not many times this year that I’ve stood there after a defeat or after a draw and felt that we didn’t deserve more from the game, but definitely we need to improve from where we were – and didn’t deserve anything from that.”

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