Sky Bet Championship: Fulham boss Kit Symons hails Ross McCormack after hat-trick
Friday 23 January 2015 07:49, UK
Fulham boss Kit Symons was thrilled to see Ross McCormack hit the goal trail in style after his first-half hat-trick set up the 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.
McCormack has this season rarely looked like the prolific hitman Fulham paid Leeds £11m for in the summer.
But he blew Forest away with a 28-minute treble to take his tally for the season to 10 and Symons said: "Ross was excellent. He took his goals really well.
"It's nice to see him scoring, although his overall contribution has never been in question. I don't care who scores the goals but I'm pleased for him."
McCormack struck his first goal in the seventh minute from the edge of the box, rifled in number two off the inside of the post and deserved the slice of luck he received when the third took a wicked deflection off Todd Kane.
The visitors threatened a comeback when Henri Lansbury scored either side of half-time, and would have dragged themselves level but for a glaring miss by top-scorer Britt Assombalonga.
Symons added: "In the second half Forest had a right go but we were resolute, we stood up and were counted.
"They were putting a lot of balls into our box, there was always that danger that something would fall for them but I was pleased with the way we defended overall."
Both sides are now 10 points adrift of the play-offs and Symons said: "If we can win a couple more on the spin we'll be looking up the table, but lose a couple and we'll be worrying about relegation again. It's that tight, you can't look too far ahead."
Stuart Pearce hoped Forest had turned a corner after a dramatic 2-1 win at fierce rivals Derby on Saturday, their first win in nine attempts.
But it is back to the drawing board for the Reds boss after another defeat and first-team coach Brian Eastick said: "Frustration is the word, having played so well at Derby we came here pretty confident.
"But we shot ourselves in the foot big time. We lost the game in the first 20 minutes. If you give the quality of McCormack that much space and time he will punish you."
