/world sport
LONDON, England -- Danny Murphy's 74th minute header saw Fulham escape relegation as a 1-0 win at Portsmouth completed a remarkable run of four wins in the last five games of the season.
Murphy is mobbed by his teammates after scoring his vital goal at Fratton Park.
With Reading about to complete a 4-0 win at rock-bottom Derby County and Birmingham City on their way to a 4-1 home win over Blackburn, nothing less than victory would do for Fulham against the FA Cup finalists.
Midfielder Murphy was left virtually unchallenged to nod in a Jimmy Bullard free-kick to seal a scrappy game at Fratton Park which saw the home side have the best chances.
Portsmouth were suffering their fourth successive defeat ahead of next week's Wembley showdown against Cardiff City and were missing David James and Sol Campbell who were nursing injuries.
But Fulham cared little for their opponent's woes to leave manager Roy Hodgson the hero of the hour.
When they lost at home to fellow strugglers Sunderland, it looked all over for Fulham but since then they have beaten Manchester City, Birmingham and now Portsmouth.
Fulham owner Mohamad Al Fayed was overjoyed by their escape saying: "It was a difficult game but they had determination and they fulfiled their promise to me, which is fantastic. A great result today."
He also paid tribute to Hodgson, adding on Setanta Sports: "We have a fantastic guy, full of humor and conscience. The result today was fantastic. "I think he will stay for us and I hope we will (stay up) all the time!"
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