Fulham boss Roy Hodgson muted the carnival atmosphere that descended on Craven Cottage on Saturday by declaring: "We're not safe yet."Hodgson joined chairman Mohamed Al Fayed and the players for a lap of honour after goals from Brian McBride and Erik Nevland had fired the Cottagers to a 2-0 victory over Birmingham.

The result - their third win in four games - has edged Fulham out of the Premier League relegation zone for the first time since Boxing Day.

Victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park in next Sunday's finale would complete a remarkable escape act and Hodgson is ready to demand one last push from his side.

He said: "We've been written off for a long time and I understand that because we've been at the bottom of the table for a long time.

"It's not been easy for myself and my players to consistently face questions like 'is that the end?' and 'are you finished?'.

"To say the right thing and what you believe without making yourself look foolish is difficult.

"The atmosphere right now is euphoric and I'm happy about that because you need to take all the good moments that come in football.

"But it's not finished yet and the euphoria of this week could turn into sadness next Sunday if we're relegated.

"But if that happens, and most people thought it would happen long before this, then we will have gone down fighting and playing football.

"The players will have to be ready to play a cup final against Portsmouth.

"I'm just happy we've got the chance because after the Liverpool defeat it looked like it would take a miracle to survive."

McBride converted Jimmy Bullard's 52nd-minute free-kick to nudge Fulham ahead before Nevland pounced late on to register the club's first back-to-back top flight wins since September 2006.

Hodgson said: "I feel relieved and more than satisfied with the performance because I thought we were good.

"I'm full of admiration for the players who showed mental courage in a game they had to win. They stuck to their task and got their reward.

"We stood up and were counted at a time when we needed to be."

Birmingham's defeat has left them on the brink of an immediate return to the Championship but manager Alex McLeish refused to raise the white flag.

The Blues host Blackburn on Sunday and McLeish said: "It goes to the wire and we still have a lifeline.

"There's still an opportunity for us to stay up. It's no longer in our hands but then it probably wasn't before today.

"We have to win next weekend and we're capable of doing that. I've never found it difficult to pick the team up.

"Now the players have to do everything in their power. We fight on for another week.

"I thought we had a couple of good chances today that we didn't capitalise on. To lose the second goal when we were chasing the game was hard to take."

More Football News from TEAMtalk