Coleman: We face battle to beat drop

"Zat Knight is 24 years old, Carlos Bocanegra 25, Zesh Rehman is 21 and Liam Rosenior just 20. They are kids and are going to make mistakes."

Fulham were missing Alain Goma and Ian Pearce with, respectively, hamstring and stomach problems last night and Moritz Volz was suffering the after effects of flu.

The absences put pressure on their attacking players, who must have been thankful for Southampton's many defensive deficiencies.

Fulham could do without the same imbalance in their next league game, against West Brom on 16 January, as captain Andy Cole will be suspended after picking up a late booking last night.

There may not be enough time for Coleman to secure his transfer targets before then, but at least the departure of chief executive Jim Hone this week will not be a hindrance. The pair had quite different ideas about players and trading and the manager's hand may now be strengthened in the transfer market.

Hone's exit may also have improved the prospects of extending the contracts of Luis Boa Morte and Edwin van der Sar and keeping Steed Malbranque for the time being.

Coleman said: "I don't see any of our players leaving us. We hope to bring in a couple and are trying to get one or two players on new contracts, which I am optimistic about.

"This season we have always had five or six senior players unavailable and with a squad our size that is always going to be a struggle."

Fulham went ahead last night when Papa Bouba Diop headed in a Mark Pembridge free-kick against the run of play after 20 minutes.

The lead lasted less than a minute as the defence failed to deal with a long ball forward and Fabrice Fernandes crossed to Kevin Phillips, who got away with his offside position and headed the equaliser.

Fulham went behind in the 29th minute when Rehman was turned by Phillips and Knight backed off in the penalty area, allowing the former England striker to curl a shot in to the bottom corner.

But neither side was comfortable defending a lead and Malbranque made it 2-2 when he bounced in a volley after Antti Niemi failed to hold Boa Morte's shot just before the break.

Coleman drew comfort afterwards from his player's spirit, which was most evident in the second half as they created a series of good chances.

Tomasz Radzinski gave Fulham the lead in the 50th minute after a slide rule through ball from Pembridge.

The striker tweaked a hamstring in the process and will be a doubt for Saturday's FA Cup tie with Watford, but worse luck was to follow.

Rosenior crashed an Anders Svensson cross into his own net after 70 minutes as he tried to clear at the near post to set up a nervous finish.

"Rosenior may have been our youngest defender but he was also our best and it was cruel that he scored an own goal," said Coleman.