Martin Jol targets Premier League run with Fulham following Capital One Cup victory over Everton
The Cottagers advanced to the fourth round for the first time since 2004
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Your support makes all the difference.Martin Jol hopes Fulham will start climbing the Barclays Premier League table after they ended their six-month wait for a home win by beating Everton.
Second-half goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent gave Fulham a 2-1 victory over Everton in the third round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night.
It was Fulham's first victory inside 90 minutes since their opening-day win over Sunderland and it came after a wretched run of five defeats and one draw in the club's previous six home games.
Fulham's poor early-season form means they are in the Premier League relegation zone, but Jol hopes the win will give his team the boost they need to start moving away from trouble.
"It is a relief to win because it is a long time since Sunderland," Jol said.
"I think if you look at our programme, we had three away games and two of them were against Arsenal and Chelsea so we were probably fortunate to get one away win against Sunderland.
"If the mentality stays the same as it was tonight then we have two home games (against Cardiff and Stoke) coming up now so hopefully we can get back in the other half of the table."
Berbatov slotted a loose ball in the box past Joel Robles to cancel out Steven Naismith's opener before Bent grabbed the winner less than three minutes after coming off the bench in the second half.
Everton had looked set to stroll to victory after dominating a first half in which Gerard Deulofeu, Romelu Lukaku and Steven Naismith all starred.
But after being booed off at half-time Fulham responded well with experienced heads like that of 32-year-old Scott Parker proving vital.
"The goal they scored was a hammer blow, everyone was thinking 'there we go again'," Jol said.
"But people like Scott Parker are a big influence, I am happy he's here.
"He's a leader. Of course there are other experienced players, but I'm very happy with his influence.
"He comes from another club, and he tells the players if we're doing okay, or if we need more goals, or to be a bit more clever.
"That's what he adds to us."
Roberto Martinez was mystified as to how his team did not kill the match off when they dominated the first half.
"We had two or three great opportunities, but couldn't take advantage so that's a disappointment," the Everton manager said.
"We lacked a bit of composure in the final third and that cost us.
"There are many things we need to learn form it."
One crumb of comfort for Martinez was the performance of Barcelona loanee Deulofeu, who caused Fulham's defence problems all night with his skill and pace.
"He's a real threat," the Spaniard added.
"His play deserved more goals in the first half, and that would have been the difference."
PA
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