The Bulgarian smashed a wondrous volley home late in the first half to seal the three points for Martin Jol's side which inches them further away from the English Premier League drop zone.

Berbatov also called on his team-mates to build on the hard-fought win and put together a run of good form between now and the end of the season.

"We know Stoke are a tough opponent to play against," he told Sky Sports.

"We know how they play the long ball and they have very strong players. We managed well from the back, we got the points and that is most important.

"We don't deserve to be in the position we are in, we are a good squad, today is important but it won't mean much if we lose the next one we will train hard and fight hard to gain the points."

Mark Schwarzer was another hero for Fulham as he kept out Jonathan Walters' second-half penalty and the 40-year-old said plenty of pre-match preparation was behind his success.

"We study quite a bit of it before the game he was relatively confident I knew where he was going to go, I just didn't want to give too much away," the Australian said.

"At the end of the day he didn't hit it as hard as he normally does.

"Anytime you don't concede a goal it's important, we needed the points today, it was vital, especially at home, we look at these games to pick up the points, today was a good win for us."