Blackpool 0-1 Fulham
Fulham manager Kit Symons is starting to prepare for another season in the Championship after victory at Blackpool all but secured survival.
The Cottagers moved up to 18th with the win, nine points clear of third-bottom Millwall who have three games in hand.
It would though be a huge turnaround for Millwall to overturn that deficit, leaving Symons to admit he is beginning to think of next season.
He said: “I won’t tempt fate, I might have half an eye on next season, but the sooner it’s mathematically done the better for me, then we can really focus.
“And there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, there’s a lot of things that have been wrong for a while now and we need to start putting them right.”
It was a difficult game for Fulham against already relegated Blackpool, but they scrapped to a narow win.
The breakthrough came early on with Matt Smith heading home after a Sean Kavanagh cross.
Fulham were organised throughout and battled well to earn a much needed three points, although it wasn’t completely plain sailing with Nathan Delfouneso having an effort cleared off the line and Marcus Bettinelli saving well from Gary Madine.
Symons said: “It was a scrappy, horrible, pretty ugly affair but it was imperative we came and got a win and we managed to do that.
“It’s been tough lately, to say the least, it’s not been the most enjoyable.
“But that’s four away games now on the spin unbeaten, and four games unbeaten consecutively for us as well, so sometimes great trees grow from small seeds.
“We got the win we needed, and a clean sheet to boot. We rode our luck a couple of times but then could have scored another one towards the end but I’ll just take the three points however they come at this stage of the season. It’s very welcome.
“It was a massive result for us, a massive result without any shadow of a doubt for the football club. I said that to the players before the game.
“I said it wasn’t all about the performance, it was about finding a way to get the win, get the three points.
“It wasn’t a classic, it’s not one that I’ll be showing my grandkids in years to come, but it was a very, very important win for this football club.”
Feature image of Kit Symons, courtesy of Fulham FC via Youtube, with thanks
