SERGEJ JAKIROVIC acknowledged the tough Premier League challenge ahead of his Hull City team after they came off second-best at early-season strugglers Fulham.
By contrast, Jakirovic’s opposite number Alvaro Arbeloa was a relieved man after his wasteful side finally registered a first league win of the season.
Alex Iwobi’s first-half goal proved enough at Craven Cottage but the home side gave up chance after chance to make the game safe as the spectre of more dropped points hung over them.
There had already been eight of them thrown away from winning positions, five after Fulham had led inside the final two minutes, and they were perhaps fortunate to come up against a Hull side who turned in, by Jakirovic’s own admission, their worst display of the season.
“It's easy to analyse this game; we were out of everything,” said Jakirovic. “Fulham were much better than us in any terms, in and out of possession, first and second balls, duels.
"It was men against boys. We didn't show anything today. But we cannot change anything now.
"The performances of Fulham have been good; they should have more points. We knew it would be tough today. We were completely out of it today.
"It was very frustrating, maybe we had some situations around the box but made wrong decisions. They were much more aggressive than us and could have scored more."
Fulham dominated from the start and went close when Iwobi’s shot was deflected on to the roof of the net in the third minute.
The hosts were playing like a team desperate for a win, with Oscar Bobb and Timothy Castagne in particular menacing Hull down their left.
The breakthrough came just after the half hour. Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s clearance was poor and from there Hull never recovered. Sander Berge took possession and knocked it back to the edge of the box for Iwobi, whose driven finish squirmed through the body of Tzolakis. The goalkeeper could point to a slight deflection, but it was a poor error.
In the second half, Tzolakis partially redeemed himself with a good save with his feet to deny Josh King, after Semi Ajayi had played his team into a mess with an awful pass out of defence.
Fulham were beginning to show what they were capable of. King’s touch on the hour to spin away from Ajayi was a delight. The 19-year-old then drove forward and crossed for Garcia to head into the path of Iwobi, and only a magnificent save from Tzolakis denied the Cottagers what would have surely been one of the goals of the season.
Iwobi came close again with a curling effort that dropped just wide of the near post.
Hull were clinging on, but all the while the spectre of dropped points hung over Fulham as long as the second goal eluded them.
Nervousness around the ground intensified after Garcia planted a free header against the crossbar from six yards.
But they held on despite Ryan Sessegnon, on as a late substitute, being dismissed with virtually the last action, though there was clearly no violent intent behind his challenge on Vaz.
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Affengruber, Bassey, Robinson, Berge, Charles, Bobb (Cairney 78), King (Sessegnon 78), Iwobi, Garcia (Palacios 85). Unused substitutes: Lecomte,Tete, Andersen, R Muniz, Kevin, Angel.
Hull City: Tzolakis, Coyle, Ajayi, Egan, Herrington (Iroegbunam 46), Norton-Cuffy (Giles 68), Belloumi, Crooks (Vaz 68), Slater (Morita 75), Thomas (Gelhardt 68), McBurnie. Unused substitutes: Phillips, Hjerto-Dahl, McNair, Stroud.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire).