Roy Hodgson was born in Croydon, but he may as well be Scandinavian. Like his ice-cool Swedish counterpart on Saturday, Sven-Göran Eriksson, Hodgson cuts a serene figure in the dugout. Experience alone cannot explain it because most managers of his age - or older in the notable case of Sir Alex Ferguson – still celebrate goals like the rest of us would a lottery win, so all that time spent coaching in Sweden, Denmark and Norway must have left its mark.

That is why the Fulham manager’s exuberant response to Diomansy Kamara’s dramatic late winning goal at the City of Manchester Stadium spoke volumes. Hands aloft, a sustained nod to the heavens, a mixture of pure joy and relief etched on his face, Hodgson’s delight was born out of a realisation there and then that if Fulham do retain their Barclays Premier League status it will probably owe everything to 20 scintillating minutes against Manchester City after the introduction of Kamara and Erik Nevland had turned the game.

“I wouldn’t say they were lucky substitutions because I don’t think you need to be Einstein to know the quality of those two players, but I don’t take the credit for substitutions like that,” Hodgson said. “I think that it is a vastly exaggerated situation where managers get applauded or criticised for their substitutions. They [Kamara and Nevland] could quite easily have gone on and we would have still lost the game 2-0.”

Only Fulham did not. City were coasting when Kamara entered the fray in the 64th minute. Joe Hart, the City goalkeeper, had denied Clint Dempsey and David Healy with good saves, but the home team were worth their lead, secured courtesy of goals from Stephen Ireland and Benjani Mwaruwari in the first 21 minutes.

Whether it was through complacency or a lack of concentration, City began to unravel. Kamara sowed the seeds of doubt when he capitalised on Vedran Corluka’s indecision and then, when Danny Murphy converted his penalty on the rebound after Sun Jihai had pulled down Nevland, Fulham dared to believe in victory.

Hodgson said that he would have settled for a draw, but Kamara had other ideas and drove home the winner from Murphy’s pass in the final seconds. A £6 million buy from West Bromwich Albion, the Senegal forward has been quiet all season, but he may have earned a place in Fulham folklore. “What happened aged me and my staff a few years, but we’ve given ourselves a giant shot in the arm,” Hodgson said.

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): J Hart 7 - Elano 7, V Corluka 5, M Ball 6, Sun Jihai 5 – M Johnson 6, G Fernandes 7 – D Vassell 6 (sub: F Caicedo, 80min), S Ireland 7 (sub: Geovanni, 56 5), M Petrov 6 – Benjani Mwaruwari 6. Substitutes not used: A Isaksson, N Castillo, S Logan. Next: Liverpool (a).

Fulham (4-4-2): K Keller 7 – P Stalteri 5, A Hughes 6, B Hangeland 5, P Konchesky 5 – S Davies 7, D Murphy 7, J Bullard 7, C Dempsey 6 – B McBride 5 (sub: E Nevland, 71), D Healy 6 (sub: D Kamara, 64 8). Substitutes not used: A Warner, C Bocanegra, L Andreasen. Booked: Dempsey. Next: Birmingham City (h).