Slavisa Jokanovic praised Fulham’s ‘great spirit’ after the Whites delivered an outstanding display to end Cardiff City’s unbeaten home record on Boxing Day.

The Whites stunned Neil Warnock’s men as an utterly dominant display saw them record a 4-2 victory at the Cardiff City Stadium with four different goalscorers running riot. Jokanovic was delighted with the quality of his team’s performance after the final whistle, saying:

It’s true that we played well. We scored four goals, we created chances. I believe we should have had a penalty before Tim Ream scored the first goal. We defended well, we didn’t drop into our box, we tried to hold the line and defend high.

The team showed great spirit with the ball, but without the ball too. Normally we are the winner in terms of possession with the ball, but today we were a little bit more clinical. We scored the goals and we showed we can be solid without the ball too.

Jokanovic knew just how hard a proposition Cardiff would prove to be on their home turf and feels that the result will help to boost Fulham’s confidence.

It’s a tough team for everyone to play. We know how difficult it can be to play Cardiff at the moment, they are a really solid and strong team. It’s only three points, but It’s important. I know how important it is for our supporters to win on Boxing Day and I must be happy for them and happy for my players.

We showed that we can be competitive and I expect that we will move in the January transfer window to be stronger and help us fight until the end of the Championship. I hope we can achieve three points against Hull. At the end of the season, where we are going to finish, I don’t know.

The Fulham head coach urged his side to continue their strong recent form at Hull on Saturday to finish 2017 in style.

When we compare this season to last season after 24 games, we had 36 points, this year it is 35. There doesn’t exist a big difference between points when we compare this season and our play-off season. We must keep going, we’re not surrendering in this competition. We can improve – [but] games like today, encourage me, the club and our supporters to believe we can be competitive in the Championship and fight for important targets.

Jokanovic also addressed the ongoing debate about Ryan Sessegnon’s best position after another virtuoso display by the young starlet.

He is 17 years old and at the moment I use him as a left back. People are happier when he plays in a more offensive wide position. In the end, it depends on my team, it depends on how I can use my players. I prefer to use Floyd Ayite as a winger. I couldn’t do that today because I felt the best option was to use him as a striker.

This is the same situation with Ryan Sessegnon. He can play well in both positions, he is only 17, and he has many games behind him but all of us believe he is going to get better in the future. There is huge space in front of him to improve and he can improve in both positions.