Fulham substitute Mladen Petric says they have to learn from Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Sunderland at Craven Cottage.
Goalscorer Petric had an incident-filled game after replacing the injured Bryan Ruiz after an hour. The Croatia international almost equalised with his first touch before finding the back of the net two minutes later after Damien Duff beat the offside trap to provide the assist. Petric then required treatment on a wound suffered when scoring the goal and was off the field as Sunderland regained the lead. "It was a hard game for us because it started very badly with the red card for Brede,"
Petric said. "Then we were 1-0 down so it was good to come back and equalise, although they scored two minutes after my goal which was a pity.
"I got a kick on my calf when I scored," Petric said. "It made a cut so I had to come off to have stitches put in and then by the time I got back on the pitch it was 2-1. It was a bit painful but I had injections so it was okay."
Petric managed to see out the rest of the game and was denied a second goal by a great save from Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. But Fulham boss Martin Jol lost both Alex Kacaniklic and Ruiz to hamstring injures and Petric felt the enforced changes had an impact of the Cottagers' chances.
"I think we have to learn from that game, but we had two injuries so I think that luck was not on our side," he said.
"I think we tried very hard and we always believed we had it in us to get back in the game.
"We kept putting pressure on Sunderland and we had some good opportunities again to score but unfortunately we just couldn't find the net again."
Jol's side travel to Stoke next weekend with Hangeland, Kacaniklic and Ruiz all missing but it is the absence of the club's captain that worries Petric most.
"Of course it will be a difficult game when we go to Stoke at the weekend," he said.
"It will be especially difficult because Brede is suspended and it is the kind of game you need your big centre-back because he's a tall player and he's very strong with his head."
Source: team_talk
