Kit Symons admitted he rode his luck against his old Fulham pal’s team.

But a 1-0 win over Lee Clark’s Blackpool was testimony to a gritty performance and the luck due a side facing one most certainly headed for the drop.

Fulham could have been 2-0 down before Matt Smith scored the game’s only goal - and only eight minutes gone.

The Whites lost the 6ft 6ins striker to a second-half injury, but not their focus to all but make sure of Championship football next term.

Nearly there: Kit Symons

“I won’t tempt fate,” he said. “I might have half an eye on next season, but the sooner it’s mathematically done the better for me, then we can really focus.

“It was a scrappy, horrible, pretty ugly affair but it was imperative we came and got a win and we managed to do that. It’s been tough lately, to say the least. It’s not been the most enjoyable.

“But that’s four away games now on the spin unbeaten, and four games unbeaten consecutively for us as well, so sometimes great trees grow from small seeds.”

Well done: Matt Smith (L) hit the winner

Actually, gaffer, they all do, but we know what you mean, and also why facing Blackpool right now was good for the soul and a shift up to the relatively heady heights of 18th.

“We got the win we needed, and a clean sheet to boot," Symons added. "We rode our luck a couple of times but then could have scored another one towards the end, but I’ll just take the three points however they come at this stage of the season. It’s very welcome.

“They started brightly and it was things we told the players about – their wide men make really good out-to-in runs and we said they had to be tracked, and we failed to do it, and they got through twice and we did ride our luck.

“We’ve not had an awful lot of luck this year so maybe it’s a little bit overdue when we needed it most. So I was glad to see those two chances go begging for them.”