Kit Symons hailed his Fulham defence for standing up to Wycombe’s aerial assault as a fine strike from Alex Kacaniklic clinched a place in the second round of the League Cup at Adams Park last night.

He said: “Wycombe put us under a lot of pressure with balls into the box and we had to defend resolutely, which we did. I think the difference is that last year I’d be expecting something to fall for the opposition. Today we defended manfully – the back four were excellent and Marcus Bettinelli in goal was very good.

“He was back because I picked him for tonight’s team. Lonners (Andy Lonergan) had a really good game last Saturday at Cardiff. Marcus had a really good game tonight. It offers me a choice on Saturday against Brighton. There were a few changes from Saturday, without weakening the team. We’ve got a fairly tight squad but a really good squad.

I inherited a squad that wasn’t quite right, and balance is the most important thing in football in the squad. You need a bit of everything and we’ve got that this year. If we can get one or two more acquisitions in, we’re going to be looking really good.”