Fulham's lack of killer instinct once again came to the fore as they let a 1-0 lead slip against table toppers Brighton.
The Whites were the better side for the majority of the contest, with Stefan Johansen missing a penalty, and took the lead through Lucas Piazon 10 minutes into the second half.
The home side were dominating play but failed to create any meaningful chances but Tomer Hemed's introduction changed the flavour of the contest.
He won a penalty after being brought down by Ragnar Sigurdsson and scored it himself to equalise.
Just seconds later, Anthony Knockaert burst through the home defence and, although his shot was saved by David Button, Lewis Dunk followed up to head Brighton into the lead.
Familiar problems
Fulham dominated the game and deserved to take all three points but their recurring inability to kill teams off cost them against Brighton.
Stefan Johansen became the fourth Fulham player to miss a penalty after Chris Martin, Tom Cairney and Sone Aluko and this is something that has cost them in games.
Although, Lucas Piazon had given the Whites the lead they worked into several good areas but failed to seriously test David Stockdale in the Brighton goal.
The Seagulls, who had failed to threaten for the majority of the game, hit back with two goals in two minutes from Tomer Hemed and one-time Whites target Lewis Dunk.
It's a bitter pill to swallow for Jokanovic, who felt his side could not have played much better, but a familiar pattern has emerged.
Martin strike continues
Derby loanee Martin, once again, continued his strike action in a bid to return to the iPro Stadium.
As previously discussed after the game against Reading, it's a difficult position the club are in but Jokanovic is standing firm and confirmed Shahid Khan is backing him.
Why should Fulham let a player contracted to them for the rest of the season go back to his parent club when there is no clause for Derby to do that?
Rams fans criticising Jokanovic and Fulham for their stance should actually be pointing fingers at their own staff, past and present, for allowing the deal to not contain a straight recall clause.
The Whites are honouring a contract they have with Derby and Martin as they are perfectly entitled to do and Jokanovic told Steve McClaren in December exactly that.
The words coming from the iPro Stadium have been, in my opinion, designed to unsettle Martin and force a return. I repeat, this sort of behaviour would lead to tapping up charges if it was not a player out on loan.
This is going to run and run throughout January.
Africa calling
Floyd Ayite was absent from the Whites squad today but there was a much more acceptable reason for that, although no less inconvenient for Fulham.
The Togo midfielder has been called up by the national side for the African Cup of Nations and the Sparrow Hawks did not give permission for Ayite to play this afternoon.
Fulham, though, were allowed to select Congolese forward Neeskens Kebano and named him on the bench.
It's ironic in a way – they'd rather have received permission from Togo than Congo.
Is Smith the answer?
Matt Smith started up front for Fulham for only the sixth time this season and gave a decent account of himself.
Slavisa Jokanovic isn't one of Smith's biggest fans as he hasn't started a game since September and has only been used sparingly from the bench, and Stephen Humphrys was preffered as a substitute option when the Whites faced Derby and Martin was ineligible.
While Smith failed to get a meaningful shot away, he certainly caused problems for the Seagulls and, maybe with game time, can show what he can do.
With Martin and Ayite unavailable, it's his chance. If he can grab it, it lessens Jokanovic's headache over the Derby loanee's current strike action.
Play-offs at best for Fulham
With all due respect to Slavisa Jokanovic's side, automatic promotion looks a long way off for Fulham at the moment.
They may have dominated the game against Brighton but the Seagulls were excellent defensively and it is easy to see why, under previous management, the Whites wanted Lewis Dunk.
The west Londoners can be content with their season so far going into 2017 as they are miles better than they were this time last year.
Fulham certainly have a chance of finishing in the play-offs and are currently the highest west London club in the Championship, having been the lowest in each of the last two seasons.
