Sunday 30 November 2014 17:14, UK
Fulham boss Kit Symons is convinced his players are "heading in the right direction" but warned they still have much to do following their 2-1 victory over Brighton.
Loan signing Darren Bent gave Brighton the lead at the Amex Stadium, but second-half goals from Hugo Rodallega and Lasse Vigen Christensen gave Symons his sixth win in a dozen Sky Bet Championship games since taking over.
Fulham were rooted to the bottom of the Championship with only one point from their opening seven matches when Symons took charge, and he believes his men are capable of improvement in all areas.
The former Wales international said: "We will keep trying to improve on every aspect of the game. We want to get up in a decent place and are certainly going in the right direction.
"In this league you're never out of a relegation battle until you're safe and the players must not be complacent. You can get sucked into a scrap and I've seen both sides of it."
Brighton finished with 10 men, after the stoppage-time sending-off of Spanish striker Adrian Colunga for two yellow cards.
Symons felt his team, now up to 16th place, did particularly well in coming back strongly after a slow opening.
He added: "The boys showed real good character after we didn't start well. We weren't clinical enough but our two strikers were excellent in the second half."
Brighton have dropped into the bottom three after winning only one of their last 15 league games and manager Sami Hyypia says the mental side of the players' game has to improve.
The Seagulls have a bad habit of throwing away leads and the former Liverpool defender said: "It's more of a mental thing.
"We need to be mentally strong and keep the ball until the 90th minute. There would be something wrong if the fans weren't frustrated."
Hyypia admitted it was "not a nice situation" to be in the bottom three and felt it was the responsibility of everyone involved to turn the form around.
"It concerns me. It is not a nice situation," Hyypia said.
"We need to turn it around very quickly. It is a very tight league and if you win a few games you'll be in mid-table.
"It's not a nice position to be in and the fans have a right to be unhappy. We must try to make everything better.
"We can affect what we do on the training field and we are working hard to correct it."
Hyypia felt the arrival of former England striker Bent had given the club a big boost, but he warned that the 30-year-old would not "save us alone".
"Everyone has to toughen up and be more concentrated," Hyypia added. "Darren is a good addition for us, but we have to all take responsibility."
