Birmingham City: Roy Hodgson praises Blues after defeat
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson could find little to fault from his side's performance after they dominated the second 45 minutes in the rain-swept conditions.
He said: "It was a very good team performance, but a bad result. We played very well in the second half, but even in the first half, we had plenty of chances.
"Full credit to Birmingham for the way their back four defended and their midfield players also got plenty of tackles in.
"But I don't think we could have done any more than we did today. We dominated the game that much, but just a goal eluded us."
Hodgson insisted his decision to leave Damien Duff out of his starting 11 had nothing to do with his involvement in the Republic of Ireland's heart-breaking world cup exit against France in midweek.
He said: "I left Damien and John Pantsil out of the side out of the side, but it had nothing to do with games in the week.
"I had ready-made replacements in Simon Davies and Stephen Kelly, good quality people, to fill their places.
"It made sense after they had such important matches in the week."
