Felix Magath admitted Fulham were fortunate to emerge from their crunch clash with Norwich with all three points but praised the predatory instincts of forward Hugo Rodallega for putting their survival bid back on course.

The Whites were indebted to the Colombian striker for a second week running after Rodallega, who has had to bide his time and wait for an opportunity under Magath, followed up his winner at Aston Villa with the only goal of this vital game at Craven Cottage.

I am glad that Hugo is now showing that he is a very good striker and he is now in very good shape. We need Hugo.

The German coach was also full of praise for goalkeeper David Stockdale, who made two superb saves before Rodallega’s winner, and has firmly established himself as Fulham’s number one.

Today we are lucky, Norwich were the better team but our goalkeeper was very great today.

Magath also reserved warm words for Mahmadou Diarra’s resilience after the veteran Malian midfielder – sidelined for much of the season by two serious knee injuries – produced a combative display to match the one that proved so important at Villa Park last week.

It is little wonder that he plays so well. Last week he played ninety minutes and today he almost played ninety again and he helps us a lot with his experience.

The rousing support from a near capacity Craven Cottage also helped Magath’s side to hold onto their slender lead – and Magath urged the supporters to recreate that atmosphere in the closing weeks of the season.

That is the way we can stay up in the league, with this support from our fans.