Diomansy Kamara is backing Fulham to prevail in their relegation showdown with Birmingham – and hopes to deliver the killer blow himself.
Until Saturday Kamara’s £6million move to Craven Cottage was viewed as flop but his heroics against Manchester City could yet secure him a place in club folklore.
Trailing 2-0 with 20 minutes to go, Kamara’s second-half cameo inspired a sensational comeback crowned by his two goals in the remarkable 3-2 triumph at Eastlands.
The victory has given Fulham fresh hope and Kamara is relishing the next assignment of an unlikely escape act against Birmingham, who sit place higher in 18th.
“Birmingham have a good team. It will be a big, hard game but I think we will win,” he said.
“Every player hopes to start every game but if I don’t start it’s not a problem for me. The team and the win is the most important thing.
“If the coach wants me to start then I start, if the coach wants me to stay on the bench then I stay on the bench.
“If I start on the bench and then come on and score two goals it is also OK!”
Fulham are three points adrift of safety with two games remaining, at home to Birmingham and then a potentially nerve-shredding finale at Portsmouth.
Confidence has soared after winning two of their last three games – back to back victories on the road – and they could inch to safety if they maintain their current form.
It is debatable whether they would have been plunged into crisis had talisman skipper Brian McBride not missed five months of the season with a serious knee injury.
McBride is the heartbeat of the side and Kamara insists the American’s absence contributed to his own difficulty in readjusting to the Premier League.
“I always said that my best position was playing in behind the one big striker,” said the Senegal forward.
“When I came here McBride was number one and I looked forward to working with him.
“But he got injured after just one month and this was very bad for me.”
Kamara has fired only seven goals for Fulham and has been used sparingly, but his star turn against City will emerge as the key moment of the season should the club survive.
“The team were very, very happy after beating Man City. We had just managed to win a big game after being 2-0 down,” he said.
“Then we come in to find that a lot of the teams we are fighting against have drawn.
“It put us just three points away from safety. We could have gone down if we had lost, so there was a lot of relief and joy afterwards.”
