Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic has was proud of his side’s character as they came from behind to defeat Sunderland on Friday night.
The Whites toiled at times in the first half and trailed to Joel Asoro’s opener, but a late Lucas Piazon effort restored parity going into the break.
And Fulham showed their quality after the restart, taking a vital three points courtesy of Aleksandar Mitrovic’s headed winner.
“In the first 45 minutes we wanted to dominate the situation,” Jokanovic explained. “We moved the ball but without the last pass, without enough shots.
“We dominated the situation but we weren’t dangerous enough. Sunderland wanted to do us damage and they scored the goal.
“It wasn’t easy for us but we showed great character at the end of the first 45 minutes and especially in the second half. We really wanted to win the game and we took the necessary risks.
“We didn’t find our best performance, but we showed great character, great confidence to change our situation, and we made a very important comeback to win these very important points for us.
“Everyone showed character, players like Tim Ream or Kevin McDonald or Aleksandar Mitrovic, who scored the goal.
“[Aboubakar] Kamara made a great impact for the team. Stefan [Johansen] again showed great character in the second half. They pushed the team in the right way to win the game.”
The victory means Fulham’s automatic promotion hopes will remain in our hands going into the final weekend, if Cardiff City drop points in Hull on Saturday.
“Now it’s Cardiff’s turn and we’re going to wait and see if they’re under some kind of pressure or not,” he said. “The ball is in their court now.
“I’ve repeated many times, if they win these two games that are ahead of them, we cannot do anything.
“But we must be comfortable and we must try to be competitive and try to win the game against Birmingham.
“It might not be enough for us, but we must be ready for Play-Offs. If we cannot finish the short way, we must be ready to finish this job in the longest way.”
One blemish on the evening was Matt Targett’s early departure from proceedings, and Jokanovic said of his left-back: “It’s an ankle problem. I don’t know, but we expect he’s going to be available.”