Mark Hughes had nothing but praise for his Fulham side despite seeing them come unstuck at Chelsea on Wednesday night.

The Cottagers slipped a 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the West London derby, days after clawing a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at Craven Cottage.

But Hughes insisted he was satisfied enough with what he had seen.

He said: “I was pleased with the performance, especially in the second half because we showed belief.

“We had two great efforts on goal in the second half and a keeper of lesser ability might not have made those saves.

"I'm pleased that we showed a response in the second half. I saw a lot of good qualities from my team today and we shall learn from that.”

Hughes was forced into a tactical reshuffle after the weekend draw, secured by Brede Hangeland’s injury-time strike, as both Chris Baird and Carlos Salcido succumbed to injury.

In came 19-year-old Matthew Briggs for a rare start, and central defender Aaron Hughes was delighted with the Academy player.

The Northern Ireland international said: “"He showed everybody exactly why the Manager showed faith in him against Chelsea.

“He's got a good head on his shoulders, he works hard and over time he's only going to get better and that's good for us.

“Now we have to go to Newcastle and try and get something there.

“We know they have been going well recently but we have to try and play our own game.”

Fulham’s next three matches: Nov 13 Newcastle (a), 21 Man City (h), 27 Birmingham City (h)