Diomansy Kamara's electrifying 20 minute cameo appearance against Manchester City last Saturday rescued Fulham from the clutches of relegation.
After trailing by two goals to nil Kamara got things started before lashing home the winner in injury time. The sense of relief and joy in the dressing room after the game was palpable, as Kamara revealed.
"When we were 2-0 down after 20 minutes I was thinking, ‘Oh no, not again.’ It was difficult to not be able to do anything about it to start with.
"I knew that if my chance did come then I would get the opportunity to find space behind their defenders and score goals. The Manager was telling me to go out there and try my best - that the game wasn’t over.
"The team were very, very happy, of course. We had just managed to win a big game after being 2-0 down and then we come in to find that a lot of the teams we are fighting against have drawn.
"It put us just three points away from the safe places. We could have gone down if we had lost, so of course there was a lot of relief as well as a lot of joy."
By his own admission Kamara has endured a frustrating season and the striker revealed that Brian McBride's early season injury was a crushing blow, not just to Fulham, but his own personal striking ambitions.
"I always said that my best position was playing in behind the one big striker. When I came here McBride was number one and I looked forward to working with him. But he got injured after just one month and this was very bad for me.
"Birmingham have a good team and I have a friend who plays for them in Mehdi Nafti. It will be a big, hard game, but I think Fulham will win.
"Every player hopes to start every game but if I don’t start it’s not a problem for me, the team and the win is the most important thing.
"If the coach wants me to start then I start, if the coach wants me to stay on the bench then I stay on the bench, if I start on the bench and then come on and score two goals it is ok also!"
Read more from Joe in this weekend’s matchday programme, available around Craven Cottage for £3.
