Martin Jol still needs convincing that Fulham are safe from drop

Newcastle 1-0 Fulham

Fulham boss Martin Jol believes Fulham are already safe, despite suffering a last gasp defeat at Newcastle yesterday.

Their defeat at St James' Park and Wigan's equally dramatic late equaliser at Queens Park Rangers means they sit eight points above the relegation zone, and have still to reach the coveted 40-point target.

Fulham probably need to find another victory to be mathematically sure of securing their Premier League status and Jol's frustration was that they had their opportunities to do that against a Newcastle side who were out of sorts for long periods.

However the 93rd minute goal from Papiss Cisse, which allayed Newcastle's own concerns about relegation, means there is still work for Jol and his men to do, despite remaining in 10th position.

When he was asked if Fulham were still in trouble, Jol said: "I don't know. I don't think so. Ten years ago you needed 44 points and a few years ago it was 42 points. Five or six seasons ago you needed 36 points. I don't know. You need a lot of points this year to be safe.

"I think we are fine but you never know. We have a very good goal difference compared to the other teams at the bottom, that is important. Of course, we would like to have more wins.

"The players are disappointed because they thought this was our day. "Do we have work to do? It depends on the situation with the third club. You have Reading and QPR and the third club going for over 30 points, today the results were good for us and Newcastle. The only thing a point would have given us is 40 points. "That was our first target. Then try to get as high as possible in the league. It was disappointing. We controlled the first 70 minutes. We lost in the final minute. Cisse did that three or four times. He is a very sharp player. He always looks for the possibility to score, otherwise we get way with three points.