Slavisa Jokanovic praised his players for their fortitude and was delighted with a composed second half performance after Fulham recorded a crucial 3-1 win at Nottingham Forest last night.

The Whites recovered from the duel disappointment of defeat at Burton and letting in a late equaliser against Middlesbrough on Saturday to inflict Forest’s sixth defeat of the season. Daryl Murphy’s leveller before half time cancelled out a smartly taken opener from Aboubakar Kamara and Fulham could have crumbled under a renewed home onslaught, but Jokanovic was delighted with the way in which his side responded to being pegged back.

The Serbian felt Fulham were too timid in the first period, but really warmed to the task after the break:

We must be satisfied with the result as we’re going back home with three points. It wasn’t easy for us, In the first 45 minutes we didn’t adapt so well. We were a little bit shy to start with and didn’t force Forest into mistakes.

We know they’re a team who want to fight for possession of the ball with us. We scored the goal, they scored a goal too, and we weren’t satisfied. In the second half we tried to take a few more risks and try and push forward and press them a little bit harder, and in the end we scored two goals. We hit the woodwork two times, we created many things, and in the end I must be satisfied with the result, and especially our performance in the second 45 minutes.

Jokanovic considered the win was crucial going into Friday night’s local derby with Queen’s Park Rangers and felt his players would take new reserves of confidence into the fixture at Loftus Road.

Especially after this situation where we didn’t win this game at home [against Middlesbrough], we needed a game like tonight. It’s always easier working after you’ve won the game. We must be focused and we must be ready for the next game against QPR.