Fulham's on-loan striker Darren Bent has insisted that the players have not given up in their battle against the drop, despite being rock-bottom with just nine games left to play.

Bent said that the players have been working hard in training to put right the defensive problems, and a win against Newcastle United on Saturday would be a huge step towards escaping.

"Football is all about different experiences and how you react to them, I maintain that," Bent told the club's official website. "The mood in the dressing room is good. Obviously we're concerned and don't want to be in the position we find ourselves in, but we share the belief that we'll stay up. You have to.

"We've had a good week of training, working on a few things that we needed to put right, and we'll go out against Newcastle in good shape - we'll be raring to go. You can go deep into tactics and game plans, but at the end of the day, it's the three points that are important and it doesn't matter how we get them."

Bent is on loan until the end of the season from Aston Villa.