In Calum McFarlane’s final game in the dugout before Rosenior takes charge of the Blues on Thursday, we started strongly at Craven Cottage before a red card for Marc Cucurella made our task more difficult.

We fell behind after the break, but fought back with 10 men to equalise, when Delap fired in his first Premier League goal in a Chelsea shirt from a Pedro Neto corner.

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to take a share of the points, as Fulham scored a second late on, leaving the Blues to make the short trip back across SW6 frustrated.

‘Of course it’s a really difficult one to take,’ conceded Delap. ‘We really dug in as a team and fought for a long period of time with 10 men. The boys showed great spirit, belief and character to get back into the game.

‘Their two goals came out of nowhere really. We did well to get back into the game but sometimes stuff like that happens in football and we’ve just got to keep our heads up.’

The result obviously took the shine off scoring his first league goal for the Blues, and third overall since joining the club in the summer, but he is still pleased to be finding form after injury disrupted his momentum earlier in the campaign.

‘It’s been a difficult start for me with a few injuries and then it’s always difficult to get sharp and get going,’ he continued.

‘I’ve got to a period now where I’m starting to feel good, so hopefully that can carry on and continue until the end of the season.’

Now the plan is to put last night’s loss behind us quickly and get back to winning ways. Thursday morning brings the start of a new chapter at Chelsea, as our incoming head coach officially gets to work with his new squad at Cobham.

Delap already knows Rosenior well, having worked with him previously during his season on loan at Hull City two years ago, and says the Blues can’t wait to get started under his leadership in the days ahead.

‘Everyone’s excited to work with the new manager. Enzo’s left, but we just have to work even harder under Liam and see what his ideas are.

‘I know him really well and he’s a top manager so hopefully he can help the players and we can just start from that. I think he’s a really exciting young manager and he loves to play football.

‘I know he’s got unbelievable passion in wanting to be a manager, so hopefully he can bring his ideas into our style of play and help us as much as he can.’