Tom Cairney admitted that Fulham paid the penalty for not being clinical in front of goal – as Bruno Guimaraes late strike stole all three points for Newcastle at Craven Cottage this afternoon.

The Fulham captain felt his side delivered an excellent first half performance that only lacked the goal the hosts deserved, but was critical of the way the Whites managed the game in the closing stages – which left them open to Bruno’s sucker punch.

Cairney told FFCTV:

“They seem to be a bit of a bogey team, to be honest. I thought we played some very, very good football first half and we’ve got to score when we’re on top in this league, otherwise we get punished. At the Cottage, we’ve played very well all season. I feel like we’ve performed well, I feel like if you go in leading the game at half-time, you’ve got a big chance to win the game and make it more comfortable. It was a horrible 1-0 defeat.

We started well. We wanted a reaction. They were quite clever with the keeper going down I think – giving them little breathers and tactics. They did it a couple of times first half, using their experience, trying to delay the game. It kind of worked – and we just couldn’t get the goal.

I feel like we’ve got to control the game a bit more at the end of the second half. It was a bit like basketball and I felt like that suits their players a bit more, suits the pace they’ve got up front. It was a bit all over the place in the last ten or fifteen minutes.”

The midfielder asked the Fulham fanbase to place this frustrating defeat in perspective – with Fulham safely ensconced in mid-table even after picking up just one point from three games since the international break.

“We’ve had a very good season. If we’re being hard, I think our away form has got to pick up. We’ve dealt with a few problems along the way, with injuries and losing players. It is our second season out of the Championship, we’ve played some very good stuff and got some big victories along the way. It’s not done yet. We’re going to try and finish as high up as we can.”