Preston North End 1-2 Fulham

Matt Smith has scored two goals in two games for Fulham this season

Fulham made it two Championship victories in two games, beating winless Preston at Deepdale.

The visitors deservedly went ahead as they capitalised on a defensive mix-up for Sone Aluko to nod home his first goal for Fulham from four yards.

The advantage was doubled when Tom Cairney cut through the home defence to tee up Matt Smith, who swept home.

New signing Callum Robinson headed in Jermaine Beckford's cross to halve the deficit, but Fulham held on.

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Simon Grayson's Preston, who finished 11th in the Championship last season, improved as the game progressed and thought they had a late equaliser but Beckford was flagged offside after heading in from six yards.

The Lilywhites haven't won at home since February, and after only managing three shots on target against Fulham, they did little to suggest an upturn in fortunes.

The Cottagers sold their top goalscorer for the past two seasons Ross McCormack to Aston Villa, but they have now won both their opening league games including a fine win over Newcastle on the opening weekend.

Fulham announced the capture of Rayo Vallecano's Jozabed Sanchez Ruiz on Friday, who becomes Slavisa Jokanovic's ninth signing of the summer.

Preston manager Simon Grayson:

"When you go 2-0 down it's difficult to come back from but we certainly made Fulham work for the win.

"We gave away two disappointing goals. In the second half we started better but gave another bad goal away when three of our lads should have made challenges.

"It was disappointing in the end, there were positives from the game but we have to be better all round really."

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic:

"The season is very long and at the moment we are lucky to find good results.

"Matt Smith works very hard and I am sure he will help us in the future but I need more people in this position. The league has so many games, and we don't have a big enough squad to be ready for what is in front of us.

"I have talked about signings, Fulham need them. I want to be successful and so I need more options in my squad."