The pair argued and designated spot-kick taker Mitrovic was furious after Kamara refused to give him the ball.

"He did not respect me, the club, team-mates and crowd. I spoke with him, it is not right," Ranieri told BBC Sport.

Mitrovic, though, rescued the Cottagers with an injury-time winner.

The Serbian coolly converted his eighth goal of the season on 91 minutes after being put through by Ryan Sessegnon.

But despite Ranieri's anger, there seemed to be few hard feelings between the two players at the final whistle, as the relegation-threatened side celebrated their victory over the Premier League's bottom side.

"No, it's my ball", "no, it's mine"

Mitrovic told BBC Sport: "We had a small argument and I think it is my job for penalties. He did not think like this but I respect that. I have done the same in the past.

"I don't have a problem with this, he missed and that is part of football. He changed the game when he came on in the second half."

Ranieri added: "I said to Aboubakar Kamara to leave the ball to Aleksandar Mitrovic, he is the man who shoots the penalties. It is unbelievable what he did.

"I wanted to kill him. That is normal when one man takes a ball, only because he scored the last penalty (against Manchester United). It should be Mitrovic, that is it."

Tears of sorrow to tears of joy

What a difference three days makes...

Mitrovic said he felt like crying after missing several chances in his side's 1-1 draw at Wolves on Wednesday, but he proved to be the match-winner three days later.

Fulham are now unbeaten in their last three games, keeping two clean sheets and though they remain in the drop zone, victory over Huddersfield lifted them up a place to 18th, just one point adrift of safety.

A pleased Mitrovic on this occasion said: "Last time I said I am so unhappy I want to cry, today I want to say I am so happy I want to cry.

"It is a big three points, we kept another clean sheet and that is a big improvement for us.

"Today was a six-point game against rivals at the bottom and it was a very important game. It gives us confidence before facing Arsenal. We need to carry on winning games and taking points."

Ranieri added: "It was unbelievable. If we had to dream this match, it is important to score in the last minute and that is what we did. It was very important for the victory and the effort."

'Defeat hard to take'

Huddersfield are rooted to the bottom of the table having lost all seven games in December and are in danger of being cut adrift from the rest, five points off safety.

The West Yorkshire side have won just twice in their 20 games so far and face another crucial game against 19th-placed Burnley on Wednesday.

"It is hard to take," said Terriers boss David Wagner. "If you see how we conceded it makes it harder.

"We had a good opportunity for the counter and could not finish then could not close the gaps and conceded after Jonas Lossl made a great penalty save.

"Today was a game with a lack of creativity form both sides, some shots from both sides and set plays but it was not a good game. We defended the counter well until the stoppage time situation."

Goalkeeper Lossl added: "It leaves us with an awful feeling at the end of the year. There is another very important game coming up. We need to be angry and frustrated and take that feeling into the next game."

Lossl's penalty save was not enough for Huddersfield