Magath 'kaput' as Fulham claw towards great escape

By Sam Holden LONDON, April 12 - Felix Magath steered Fulham closer to an escape from the relegation zone with a 1-0 win against fellow strugglers Norwich City on Saturday but admitted the frenetic Premier League basement scrap had left him "kaput". German Magath, who replaced Rene Meulensteen as head coach in February, has a proud tradition of never suffering relegation in his managerial career having saved VfB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg from the drop from the Bundesliga. The former Bayern Munich boss looks like he might have the Midas touch again after Fulham notched a third win in their last five league games on Saturday to move to within two points of fourth-from-bottom Norwich who have a horrible run-in. A goal from Hugo Rodallega, in only his second game since February, and two world class saves from young goalkeeper David Stockdale proved to be the difference. Magath admitted it was a risk introducing players who had been out of the picture. "There is nothing without risk," Magath told a news conference. "It was a risk (to pick Stockdale over Netherlands goalkeeper Maarten Steklenburg). "Martin is a very good goalkeeper too. I took him out because Stockdale is a more exciting goalkeeper who talks more with his team mates. "Today he was our best man and he saved us the win." Rodallega scored the crucial goal five minutes before half-time, sweeping home Steve Sidwell's header from Lewis Holtby's free kick. It was only his second league goal of the season, with his first coming in the 2-1 away win at Villa last Saturday, and he looks a different prospect from the player that cried on the bench after being substituted during an FA Cup defeat against Sheffield United under the previous Fulham manager. "It's not just Hugo, the whole team is developing in the last weeks," Magath said of the transformation of fortunes for both the striker and his side. "Everybody profits when the team does better and we're very glad that Hugo is in good shape and now he is a very dangerous striker." "We are very lucky (today) because Norwich were the better team and they played very well. We didn't play well but at the moment three points is the only thing that counts," he added. "Today I'm very kaput! It was a very dramatic 90 minutes." Norwich's newly-appointed manager Neil Adams must now try and find enough points to survive from games against Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. "We've got four huge games now against four of the best teams in Europe, not just in England," Adams said. (Editing by Martyn Herman) nL3N0N408N