Portsmouth 0 Fulham 1:IT WAS the first time Roy Hodgson smiled all afternoon. Racked by tension, aware his side were sliding out of the Premier League, he struggled to stop his hand covering his mouth. But then Danny Murphy rose to head in Jimmy Bullard's free-kick and the hand edged away to reveal the grin that signalled the Fulham manager knew his side would be safe.
Across to Hodgson's right the away supporters erupted. Those with radios pressed against their ears, aware Reading were cruising against Derby County, bounced beneath the sweltering sky to mark their club's salvation, something that had appeared almost impossible two weeks ago. At 4.05pm on April 26th, Fulham looked relegated; 40 minutes later, thanks to an extraordinary recovery at Manchester City, they found life and here the resurrection was completed.
Hodgson deserves huge credit for this achievement. When he arrived at Craven Cottage on December 30th Fulham were 19th, victors in only two of their first 20 matches of the season.
"I'm delighted for everyone at the club, the chairman, the fans, David McNally (managing director), they have been magnificent to me since I came here," said Hodgson. "I've often been quite saddened that I could not wave the magic wand and transform the club from a bottom-three club to a top-six club, but I feel a lot of satisfaction today.
"I also feel sympathy for the two managers who got relegated today, Alex McLeish and Steve Coppell. They are both friends of mine and both excellent managers and, having had so much time myself in the second half to contemplate that it might be us who were going down, I know how they feel."
Indeed, until Murphy struck, Fulham's cause looked lost. As has been characteristic of their season, the side looked bereft of conviction and, apart from Simon Davies's low shot after four minutes, they never looked like scoring. Instead it was Portsmouth who threatened consistently.
Fulham were wobbling but did not topple and eventually discovered an escape route.
"That has to be one of the most important goals I have ever scored," said Murphy, who was left unmarked to collect his sixth goal of the season.
"This is an amazing achievement, but we had belief. At one stage we thought we had left it too late, but the manager stood by us and told us to keep going. This is as much down to him as it is the players."
Hodgson described survival, achieved with three consecutive away wins - a first for Fulham since promotion in 2001 - as the greatest achievement of his career, but, typical of a man who refuses to engage in hyperbole, dismissed the possibility of indulging in wild celebrations.
"I might watch Match of the Day tonight and I don't do that often," he said, allowing the grin from moments earlier to creep again across his features. Hodgson's restraint is perhaps based on the realisation that survival has masked what has been a deeply disappointing season. The club have finished with their lowest points total and league position since promotion in 2001.
