Steve Bruce admits that Newcastle United missed a huge opportunity to seal their Premier League place against Arsenal on Sunday.
Victory for Newcastle would have left Fulham 12 points behind them and their only hope of finishing ahead the Magpies then coming down to goal difference.
In all truth, Fulham still have to win all of their final four games and hope Newcastle fail to pick up any more points.
When asked about the situation after the game, Bruce said: "Well, we're a damn sight better than we were a month ago.
"We're disappointed at our second defeat in nine – just at the right time, we hit a bit of form.
"We haven't played well enough to beat Arsenal - a good Arsenal team, in my opinion.
"I've said all along it's your accumulation of points.
"We've got four left."
Bruce had challenged his side to beat last season's points tally of 44 points recently but they will face a steep task if they are to do so.
Sitting on 36 points United would require three wins from their final four matches, and face Leicester City away and champions elect Manchester City at home.
Bruce reflected: "The disappointment for me today is that we could have gone 13th in the table and we've missed that opportunity.
"I say missed the opportunity, we had to play well to beat Arsenal and unfortunately we didn't play well enough."
