Martin Jol believes Fulham are well prepared for life without Bobby Zamora despite struggling in front of goal against West Brom.
The 31-year-old striker left for London rivals QPR on Tuesday, leaving the home side bereft of attacking ideas as they were held to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday night.
Fulham's starting line-up was without a recognised striker and it showed as the hosts seemed to miss Zamora's physical presence.
That said, Jol believes the Cottagers will recover from his departure and insists it came at an "ideal" time for the club.
"You would have to ask Bobby [why he left] but for us it was the best we could do," the Dutchman said.
"It was a decent offer and we decided to accept it. This was around for months. He wanted that move.
"Of course you want to keep your players on board, especially in this transfer window.
"But, on the other hand, we had to make a decision and this is not something that has happened over the last couple of days.
"I think the timing was probably ideal because Bobby left and we could get Pavel [Pogrebnyak] in.
"Last year there was a different scenario as I wanted Andre-Pierre Gignac in and he didn't come.
"Now we had a candidate for Bobby and he came."
With Pogrebnyak not registered in time and both Andrew Johnson and Mousa Dembele injured, Clint Dempsey started in attack.
The makeshift forward did not shirk his responsibilities and looked like he would prove Fulham's saviour once again as he tucked home midway through the second period.
However, the Cottagers lacked a cutting edge and West Brom made them pay when substitute Somen Tchoyi netted eight minutes from time.
Asked whether Zamora would have altered the result, Jol said: "There is always a possibility.
"He scored four or five goals this year so if he would have scored today - if he would have been here - we would probably have had a better result.
"But he was not here, Andy Johnson was not here injured and Mousa Dembele was not here so under the circumstances, with Clint up front and Bryan (Ruiz) in a different role, a win would have been fantastic.
"Of course you always want to get three points and I really thought that would be the case today, but then again we conceded a goal.
"You need a lot of patience against West Brom. They try to screen and don't give you a lot of space.
"You need extra quality and that is what we did with the goal, which was good.
"The first half was not what I wanted, but the second half was better."
Albion counterpart Roy Hodgson struck a relieved figure after securing a point at his former stomping ground.
The match marked the former Fulham manager's first return to Craven Cottage after a highly successful spell that saw the west Londoners reach the 2010 Europa League final.
Hodgson received a standing ovation from the home support as he made his way to the dugout, although there was no room for sentiment on the field.
"I was really quite pleased with the performance if you take away the last five or six minutes, where I thought we did our best to let them back into the game," he said.
"For a large period I thought we were fully in control, to be quite frank.
"When they did score, it was the result of one or two errors on our part that let them back in and they took advantage.
"At 1-0 you thought 'oh dear, that could be harsh on us'.
"When you get it back to 1-1 you think 'at least some justice has been done' and then blow me down, for five or six minutes every time we got the ball in good positions we contrived to give it back to them."
He added: "It was nice to come here and get the point. I was absolutely delighted with the way we played the game.
"I thought it was fantastic, the reception I got from the crowd. That also made it a very nice evening for me."
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