Chris Smalling is calling for a bit extra

Wednesday's FA Cup quarter-final replay at White Hart Lane will be Fulham's 50th competitive game this season and if Smalling and his team-mates make as many mistakes against Spurs as they did in going down 2-1 to City, then the dream of playing at Wembley will die an untimely death.

Fitness is not the problem. Just three days after that momentous victory over Italian giants Juventus in the Europa League, Fulham still proved physically the equal of a high-flying City side that had played 10 fewer games this term.

Indeed, manager Roy Hodgson's claim Fulham would almost certainly have salvaged a point had referee Lee Probert allowed the game to run an extra 15 minutes was valid.

But fatigue — and in Smalling's case, inexperience — can cause errors of judgment.

Fulham's game was littered with them, particularly in the first half when Paul Konchesky and Danny Murphy were chief among those who kept passing to empty space or to players in black shirts rather than those wearing white.

Smalling, however, remained defiant. The England Under 21 defender, bound for Manchester United at the end of the season in a deal that could net Fulham up to £12million, said: "We'd love to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup, that really would make this season another one to remember.

"We've had quite a few games lately but the focus now falls solely on Spurs. And it's one that we're relishing."

Smalling, who will retain his place in the team if Brede Hangeland fails to recover from the chest injury that meant the Norwegian was sidelined yesterday, added: "When you look at our performance in the second half against City, we definitely deserved something.

"It was a disappointing day for us and having made a slow start, it was always going to be tough to come back having conceded two goals.

"It was back to the bread and butter of league football and unfortunately we couldn't produce the same highs as we did against Juventus. I'm sure some would have expected that but it's hard to repeat that kind of performance.

"We won't be using that as a reason for the defeat because this team are used to playing two games in a week. I certainly don't think that City were any fitter, quicker or stronger.

"We were the better team in the second half, which was a lot more positive. Having had a lot of possession and a few chances, we just fell a little short. It was one of those days where it just didn't happen."

It might have been different had Zoltan Gera's looping effort not been hooked off the line by Kolo Toure in the sixth minute.

From the resulting counter-attack, Carlos Tevez, a constant threat, fed a neat ball to Craig Bellamy, whose low shot was deflected onto a post by Aaron Hughes. But the ball rebounded over the prostrate Mark Schwarzer, who could not get a grip on it, and Roque Santa Cruz was on hand to bundled the ball over the line.

Half an hour later, City went two up when Bellamy exploited Fulham's lack of cover down the right before passing to Tevez, who outsmarted a lunging Smalling before crashing the ball past Schwarzer.

Bobby Zamora and Gera, such stars against Juventus but largely ineffectual yesterday, were withdrawn early in the second half and replacements Clint Dempsey and Stefano Okaka seemed to breathe new life into Fulham.

A long period of pressure resulted in a 74th-minute penalty, conceded by Gareth Barry, who handled Chris Baird's cross, and which Murphy
despatched in style.

Then, two minutes into added time, Fulham had another good shout for a penalty turned down by Probert, even though a low cross by Bjorn Helge Riise clearly struck the hand of Vincent
Kompany.

Hodgson said: "Manchester City were much happier to hear the final whistle than we were."
He conceded that the two defensive errors in failing to stifle first-half counter-attacks had cost his side dear.

But he is backing his side to rebound against Spurs, saying: "I'd like to think they're still prepared to get out and fight and scrap."