Tom Cairney was encouraged by the way Fulham battled back to claim a point against Bournemouth last night and urged his team-mates to not let their levels drop as the Whites head into the Christmas period.

The Fulham captain came off the bench to add creativity to the home midfielder and produced a peach of cross to provide the equaliser for Tosin Adarabioyo with just six minutes left. He felt Marco Silva’s men deserved a half time lead having watched an absorbing contest from the sidelines initially. Cairney told FFCTV last night:

“I think it was a proper game of football. Atmosphere, intensity, chances, tackles – everything you want in an entertaining game. Had a bit of drama, opportunities missed, goals we should have scored. It was entertaining for fans. I feel like when you were playing in a top of table clash, you need to score when you were on top. We needed to score first half, we deserved to score. They cleared it, last ditch tackles and we were so unfortunate to go in 0-0.”

The midfielder acknowledged the quality of the training ground that led to Dominic Solanke’s opener seconds after the interval.

“It was quite surreal actually. On one hand, you’ve got to give a bit of credit to Bournemouth because it was a great move and a great pass. From our point of view, it’s a little bit sloppy, it’s sleepy, not seeing the run. You have to give a bit of credit to them for the goal.”

Cairney was pleased to tilt the contest back towards Fulham with a high-energy cameo after replacing Jean-Michael Seri with twenty minutes to go and most of the league leaders chances came through the movement and vision of their number ten.

“I came on, 1-0 down, you come on the pitch you feel like you need to make an impact and make something something happen. They were getting deeper, just tried to get around the box, hopefully get a shot off and get a goal. I was hoping Kebano was going to score when I put him in, that would have been nice, but it was great for Tosin to get his first goal. The ball worked to the edge of the box on the right hand side, when you see Mitro and Tosin in the box you just need to feel it in there. It was a good ball and a great header.

He praised Fulham’s fans for creating such a red hot atmosphere and another memorable moment at the Hammersmith End.

“Oh, it was brilliant. The atmosphere was the best it has been this season by far – and that’s without a stand. Imagine if it was full? It would have been an absolute joke. It is an amazing feeling, kicking to that end. It feels like they are sucking the ball into the goal when it is like that. It was a good moment.”

Cairney felt Fulham could have nicked it in the closing stages, but he believes there were plenty of positives to take from a dominant display.

“I feel like if the game went on five minutes longer we could have scored another. They were getting deeper and deeper and we were piling the pressure on. I think overall you’ve got to be happy with the performance, the intensity and possession we had. Obviously, it’s three draws in a row, which obviously we don’t want, but you’re top of the league, you can’t be too greedy. Nothing’s won and lost in December. We keep going.”