Fulham manager Roy Hodgson knew his Barclays Premier League side had been let off the hook after two late goals put them through to the Carling Cup third round at the expense of Coca-Cola League One side Leicester.
The Foxes had been leading going into the final 10 minutes but long-range efforts from Jimmy Bullard and Danny Murphy earned Fulham a 3-2 victory.
Hodgson said: “It was more than the nerves that were being tested. From the first half, when we were playing quite well and leading, we suddenly lost our rhythm when going 2-1 down in just a few minutes after the start of the second.
“We were playing a very good team with their tails up and they gave us an awful lot of problems. Thank goodness we re-found our tempo in the last 20 minutes and got through with two wonderful strikes.”
Fulham were a goal up at the interval through Zoltan Gera’s deflected strike but then fell behind soon after the break and looked to be heading for defeat before their late salvo.
Hodgson said: “We were not guilty of complacency. It was just that our game went to pieces with those two goals Leicester scored but we have come out of it with a couple of positives – one that we were able to find our game again, and two that we learned a lot of lessons without paying the full price.”
