Kit Symons was disappointed Fulham failed to claim all three points against Birmingham at Craven Cottage.

The hosts were on the back foot for most of the match, despite taking an early lead, but they built up a late head of steam and could have snatched a winner at the death but for Blues keeper Darren Randolph’s excellent save from Hugo Rodallega’s acrobatic effort.

Symons said: “We started very brightly and before the goal we had some good passages of play and some good opportunities but it was almost a case of scoring too soon.

“It was a very good goal but we sat back a bit then but most of it was from our mistakes in the first half and most of the opportunities and chances they had were from our cheap giveaways and poor decisions.

“We actually started the second-half slow but then dominated from there so in the end I’m disappointed not to have gone and won it, to be honest.”

Winger Alex Kacaniklic saw a late cross connect with Blues midfielder David Davis’ arm but referee Fred Graham waved away his penalty appeal.

But Symons believes Graham should have pointed to the spot.

He said: “The boy Davis raised his hands, it’s quite close to him but he definitely put his hands up so I thought it was a stonewall penalty right in front of the referee. I’m disappointed not to get it.”

Birmingham wingers Lloyd Dyer and David Cotterill caused problems all afternoon for the Fulham defence but Symons reckons his side dealt with them well.

He said: “A big part of the game plan was to get up to the ball quickly because they put a lot of crosses in.

“Cotts especially has got very good quality and he doesn’t need to beat a man, he’ll just put the ball in if you give him a yard so you need to get up there and close down quickly and I think Kostas [Stafylidis] did very well with that today.

“They still put quite a few crosses in but we put them under a bit of pressure and I thought we dealt with their wide players. I was quite pleased with that.”