Blackpool 0-1 Fulham

Fulham are all but safe after Matt Smith struck the game's only goal in the eighth minute.

It needs a miracle akin to a Lazarus rising for Millwall to catch the Whites - and they are the only team who could now send Fulham down.

In effect, the Lions need to win all their remaining three games by cricket scores while Fulham have to lose both their last two fixtures.

However, scorer Smith who has been on the edge of exhaustion in the last three games according to boss Kit Symons, was forced off with an injury five minutes into the second half.

Top form: Bettinelli

Fulham could have been 2-0 down before he scored.

The Whites 6ft 6ins striker notched his fourth of the season with a well-placed header as he connected with Sean Kavanagh’s cross.

But like the Rotherham game on Tuesday, Whites were all at sea, never mind the seaside, when talented teenager Henry Cameron raced through and tickled the post after springing a dozing defence.

The 17-year-old then brought a bright stop from Marcus Bettinelli - and all this before latecomers had taken their seats.

After he scored, Smith took charge with a rising shot always headed over and nearly repeated the headed goal, but this time Kavanagh’s centre had the big man nodding just wide.

Close: Cauley Woodrow (R)

A tiring month finally took its toll as Smith pulled up lame, although sub Cauley Woodrow nearly picked up from where the scorer left off when he was a toe-poke from doubling the advantage.

It needed the timely intervention of Jazz Richards to clear off the line deep into the second half. Nathan Delfouneso looked to have fouled Bettinelli in an aerial challenge, but the forward's half-hit effort at goal gave Richards the chance to clear.

Gary Madine volleyed goalwards in the final seconds, but Bettinelli, one of the few stars of a struggling season, flung himself and turned the effort away.

Fulham fans cheered former hero Lee Clark, now in charge of doomed Blackpool, but they could afford to. Their side will see Championship football while Clark will prepare for League One

Whites, 4-1-3-2: Bettinelli; Richards, Turner, Burn, Husband: Hoogland; Tunnicliffe, Guthrie, Kavanagh; Smith (Woodrow 50); McCormack; subs not used: Kiraly, Hutchinson, Ruiz, Fofana, Rodallega, Grimmer