Fulham manager Martin Jol believes Fulham were rewarded for his ambitious attacking line-up following a narrow victory at Queens Park Rangers.
The Cottagers registered only their second away win of the Premier League season, with Pavel Pogrebnyak grabbing the only goal of the game inside seven minutes after Moussa Dembele's lay off.
QPR had debutant Samba Diakite dismissed for a second bookable offence just after the half-hour mark but, to their credit, the hosts performed better in his absence.
Jol admits it wasn't easy to distinguish which side had the extra man thereafter, but the Dutchman hailed the impact of Dembele as the visitors attacked from the off.
"That was a risk," Jol told Sky Sports when asked about his attacking approach.
"But I've put Dembele in the centre over the past couple of weeks and he's done well, you need some creativity in midfield when you go away from home, and he brings us that.
"He shook my hand so that is good. Either he doesn't like me or he was annoyed, but I think he was just annoyed."
Martin Jol on Mark Hughes Quotes of the week
"I was very pleased especially with the first 20 minutes. They wanted to take the game to us, they were really up for it but we played some excellent football.
"It's not easy to play against 10 men because we played with four at the back against their two strikers and Taarabt was in the hole, so sometimes it looked as though they had 11 as well.
"That's a lesson for next time. We have to involve everybody and make more of the flanks, that's why I brought Damien Duff on."
Upon the final whistle, Jol's counterpart Mark Hughes appeared disgruntled and gestured as much towards the Dutchman, who insists there is no issue as far as he is concerned.
He said: "He shook my hand so that is good. Either he doesn't like me or he was annoyed (with the result) but I think he was just annoyed. He's a winner and he wants to win."
The victory edges Fulham closer to the top half of the table and Jol admits the fans are patiently backing his regime.
"They know what I'm doing," he said of the fans. "I'm trying to transform this side into an attractive team. I think they've been behind me from the start."