Speaking in his post-match press conference, Fulham Head Coach Scott Parker lamented a lack of intensity in the last 15 minutes which cost the Whites dearly in a game where little split the two sides.
Fulham took the lead when Aleksandar Mitrovic anticipated a defensive mistake, but three late goals earned Aston Villa the victory.
“I didn’t think there was much in the game really,” Parker said. “Both teams up until we scored the first goal huffed and puffed. But I thought we were pretty solid and always looked a threat.
“You get your nose in front at 1-0 and, I think it is fair to say, the first goal we conceded doesn’t bother me too much. I understand that we can do better in those moments.
“But after the first goal it was poor from us really, we dropped our intensity, I felt like the emotion of that goal infected us too much. We weren’t streetwise enough in those moments.
“For large parts today, I thought we were solid. The last 15 minutes I didn’t like at all, it’s something we need to address, and the players need to understand it.”
The boss promised to be brutally honest with his players and that his side would learn from the difficult experience on Easter Sunday at Villa Park.
“The last 15 minutes you cannot brush under the carpet,” he explained. “We cannot move on too quickly without addressing. That needs to be addressed and we’ll address it first thing.
“We can withstand the pressure; we’ve withstood the pressure for large parts this year. We’ve been very good defensively. Sometimes, like in a boxing match, you need take a knee, a count and regroup a little bit and survive.
“We didn’t have the mechanisms to do that today, that’s what was disappointing, it affected us. Their goal at 1-1 affected us, at that point we are still in this game and you can’t let the game transpire the way it did, and we’ll learn from it.
“As always this year, when we have had bumps and a little adversity, we’ve come back. We’ve got another massive game [against Wolves] which we’ll be ready for, prepared for, hopefully better.”
Despite the defeat, Scott was pleased to see Mitrovic amongst the goals and contributing to the team performance following a spell on international duty when he became Serbia’s record scorer.
“I thought he was brilliant today,” Parker said. “He’s come off international duty with goals. Strikers, their main confidence source is goals.
“I’m very pleased with his all-round game. People will judge him for his goals, I judge him for his all round play, his work-ethic for the team, and I thought he was exceptional in that.
“The icing on the cake for him was his goal, it’s just a shame it wasn’t a goal which got us some points today.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Parker promised that heads would not drop with a massive seven games ahead.
“We are right in it, we are right in this race,” he stated. “We put ourselves in a very good position with how we’ve done, because of how well we’ve done this year in a short space of time, how well the group have taken on information and got better.
“With seven games to go we are right in with a fighting chance.”