Tom Cairney says Fulham’s relief was palpable when his strike against Bolton hit the back of the net.

The former Blackburn midfielder curled an effort beyond Ben Amos in the 77th minute against their already relegated counterparts to earn the Whites a 1-0 win .

Wanderers goalkeeper Amos pulled off a string of terrific saves, including one from Cairney himself in the first half, and a remarkable double stop to deny Matt Smith and Ross McCormack from close range.

And the 25-year-old was just pleased to finally beat the Bolton man, after a dominating performance which saw the Whites retain 66% possession and have 26 shots on goal.

Cairney said: “It was especially good because Ben Amos was on fire today.

“He was their best player and we were struggling to beat him, especially with that double save second half. It was a great feeling.

“In the first half we had quite a few shots. In the second half, he had the double save that was brilliant.

“And then it started to feel like it was going to end on a nil-nil. It was a great relief when it went in.”

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The result edged Fulham up to 20th in the Championship - a final position as the season came to an end.

It proved to be another disappointing season for the Whites, with another relegation scrap the result of having four managers at the helm during a rocky first half of the season.

Slavisa Jokanovic eventually took the Craven Cottage role in December, but any January plans were restricted by a transfer embargo after the club breached Financial Fair Play rules.

With a full pre-season ahead though, and a chance to create his own Fulham team, the manager will be eyeing up success next season.

And Cairney says the boss will debrief his players ahead of their summer break, which begins Monday.

He added: “We’re in tomorrow, we will have a bit of a meeting and then it is holiday time for us. Not for everyone else, ours is early.

“The hard work starts end of June, start of July.

“We might have individual meetings, maybe a collective meeting, I’m not sure.

“I’m guessing we find out tomorrow.”