Immediately after the match, Curbishley laid the blame for the reverse firmly on Messias, who turned down two penalty appeals either side of Steed Malbranque’s 18th-minute penalty for the home side.

Sean Davis wrapped up victory for the Cottagers in the 64th minute – but what irked Curbishley was not the goals his side conceded but the spot-kick shout Messias turned down.

The first was when Martin Djetou handled in the box – an offence the referee ruled as accidental.

And the second was when Alain Goma felled Jason Euell by slinging a boot across his chest.

Curbishley slammed Messias afterwards and today disclosed his players – who reacted angrily to both rejected appeals – would have questioned his attitude if he had not.

“I was in the dressing room with my players and if I walked away from the ground without saying anything, they would have looked at me in training and asked ‘were you at the same game?’” Curbishley said.

“I’ve walked away from a lot of grounds in the past and thought I’ll just get on with it. But I was so critical of that referee’s performance because it was the difference in the result.

“It would make a big difference if referees looked at the video the day after the match and said to us ‘I got that wrong and made a mistake’. But they don’t.

“They ignore it and we have to send them letters to ask them to look at things.

“It would be nice if they started coming back to us and that would mean we have a better rapport with them.”

Curbishley today issued the latest in a long stream of rallying cries to his team, who are now eighth and facing a struggle to qualify for the Champions League or UEFA Cup.

“We’ve got three games left and the last two weeks of the season will make a dramatic change to the league positions,” the manager said.

“If we pick up points, who knows where we’ll end up?”

Fulham boss Chris Coleman, whose team have leapfrogged Charlton into seventh spot, today assured Cottagers fans that chairman Mohamed al Fayed is fully committed to the club.

The Fulham Supporters’ Trust have called for clarification of the club’s long-term plans for Craven Cottage which they will return to in August.

Coleman said: “People think our chairman has lost his ambition for the club.

“But he’s given me money to spend in the summer and the club’s going in the right direction compared to this time last year when we were in relegation trouble.”

Rookie boss Coleman, whose one-year rolling contract expires at the end of the season, revealed the hold-up in signing his new three-year deal is because his assistant, Steve Kean, has yet to finalise his terms.

“We’re very much a partnership and I wouldn’t sign without Steve,” Coleman added.

“Once he’s happy, I’ll be happy. He’s worked tremendously hard so I would imagine the club are very pleased with him.”