Hughes confident in Fulham ability

Fulham boss Mark Hughes is not concerned his side has slipped to 17th place in the English Premier League after a 1-1 draw with Birmingham.

Fulham had a Clint Dempsey strike to thank for securing a share of the spoils on Saturday after Sebastien Larsson gave Birmingham a first-half lead at Craven Cottage.

And with his side sitting just one point out of the relegation zone, Hughes said he was not worried with his side’s lowly league position.

“We are very aware of where we are, you only have to look at the table. But we’re only five points away from seventh, so you can look at it both ways,” Hughes said.

“We have just got to keep going. The guys are working exceptionally hard to get points on the board. Birmingham are probably more pleased with the point than we are.”

“But what we have to do is keep that belief that I saw in abundance today. We have too much quality and just need to get a few players back.”

“It was difficult because at 1-0 down they got lots of people behind the ball away from.”

“We had to keep on going, keep knocking at the door, keep showing belief, which I was really pleased with and we got back on level terms.”

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish said he was not bothered his side had failed to register a win away from home this season, preferring to focus instead on their league position.

Birmingham sit in 14th place in the table, and McLeish claims he would be happy with a draw away from home every week.

“I couldn’t care less,” said McLeish. “If we can keeping winning at home and take four points out of six every two games, I think we will be okay.”

“It is not easy to win away from home – there are no guarantees you can do it. We might never win away in the next two years but as long as we are in the Barclays Premier League I will be delighted.”