Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert regarded his side's 1-1 draw with Fulham as a point gained rather than two lost despite Fabian Delph's own goal costing them a vital win in the fight for survival.
Victory at Villa Park would have put his side five points clear of the Barclays Premier League bottom three. However, after the impressive Charles N'Zogbia gave Villa a deserved 55th-minute lead, the visitors were gifted an equaliser when midfielder Delph flicked Bryan Ruiz's corner into his own net with a header 11 minutes later.
"We played really well," Lambert said. "I have got nothing but praise for the performance. We played really well and got a draw. That point could be massive. We're pulling teams right into it. I'm not too disappointed at all with the performance. Is it a point gained? Yes, absolutely."
He added: "It was not long ago Fulham went to White Hart Lane and turned over Tottenham, a right top side. They don't get credit they deserve. They have got some terrific players. But some of the chances we created were excellent. I am sitting here and the point could be huge for us.
"A few games ago there weren't as many teams in the fight as there is now. There is a right cluster there."
Lambert's counterpart Martin Jol declared himself a "happy customer" after the draw took his 10th-placed team to the 40-point mark.
"If you play against a team like Aston Villa they will be full of energy and before the match we saw the stats and the fact they had three wins and one defeat in the last four," said the Dutchman.
"They're doing well, they can put you under pressure so it was good for us to see Gabriel Agbonlahor was not playing because he has real pace and penetration.
"They were hot and cold and then we had a spell in the second half where Villa deserved a goal and they got it. We had to change things and luckily enough we scored an equaliser and got to 40 points, because that was our target.
"If you look at the other teams, such as Villa, they would like to swap with us. Since January 1 we've had three defeats and seven or eight wins and draws, so we've done ever so well. I'm a happy customer. We've got 40 points, the results were okay for us today and that's fantastic."
Source: PA
