OUTSIDE the Reebok, the loving tributes from fans around the country to Fabrice Muamba are showing signs of wilting – but Wanderers must make sure their fight against the drop doesn’t go the same way.

Three weeks on from the raw emotion that followed the midfielder’s collapse at Spurs, we are still finding ourselves dumbfounded on a daily basis by the sheer rate of his recovery.

If, as currently seems probable, he will play again for Bolton Wanderers, then his team-mates need to raise their game considerably from this showing to make sure that happens in the Premier League.

The outpouring of goodwill directed towards Wanderers over the last few weeks has been nothing short of amazing – but that won’t extend to matters on the pitch. Wigan, Blackburn and QPR don’t look like they will wait around in the bottom three forever.

Whether Wanderers looked at Fulham – perennially poor travellers – and thought three points were a given, I’m not sure, but there wasn’t a hint of the urgency or passion that had been so obvious in their last three consecutive wins.

Credit to Martin Jol’s men, because, unlike Blackburn and Wolves, they took maximum advantage of the opportunities afforded to them.

Clint Dempsey grabbed two and should have had a hat-trick, continuing to show that his talents deserve to be showcased on a grander scale than Craven Cottage.

Mahamadou Diarra wrapped things up with a third – his first goal in English football – but by the time the Senegalese midfielder rubber-stamped victory, the fire in Wanderers’ belly had been long-since extinguished.

Coyle opted to stick with the same back four who had conceded twice at Molineux despite Gretar Steinsson’s return from injury, and also brought Darren Pratley straight back in for Ivan Klasnic, reverting to the favoured 4-5-1 formation.

Neither decision was exactly rewarded as Pratley and his fellow midfielders laboured in possession and – just as they had at the Cottage in December – leaving the way completely clear for Dempsey, Mousa Dembele, John Arne Riise and in particular Damien Duff to run roughshod.

Marcos Alonso had shown signs of his potential and, indeed, where he definitely needs to improve at Wolves a week earlier, yet he could take no positives from a tortuous afternoon.

Duff beat him one way, then the other, to the degree that you longed for Coyle to end his suffering and bring him out of the action.

A calf injury sustained just after a third substitution had been made topped off his bad fortune completely, meaning he would have to experience every second of misery against the wily Irishman.

After the slowest of starts, Dempsey brought a bit of excitement to the game with a stunning 30-yard free kick to open the scoring on 30 minutes.

Although David Ngog had needlessly given away a foul on Diarra, the American – who had never previously scored with a set piece – had no right to beat Adam Bogdan from where he was.

Wanderers briefly rallied, with Aaron Hughes clearing superbly in front of his own goal under pressure from Ngog and Mark Schwarzer blocking a low effort from Nigel Reo-Coker.

But the watching Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew must have been licking his lips at what he saw just before the break.

After Martin Petrov and Alonso had got their wires crossed on the left, the Bulgarian stopped in his tracks while Steven Kelly raced down the right to feed Duff.

Once again, the winger teased and tormented his marker before chipping in a cross from the left for Dempsey, who had floated around unmarked in the box for 30 seconds, to head home his second.

No wonder the Bolton fans made their feelings known at the half-time break.

Coyle withdrew Ryo Miyaichi and Pratley to throw on in-form Kevin Davies and Chris Eagles and for 10 minutes or so, the changes seemed like they might have worked.

Davies hassled and harried as per normal, and Eagles picked up the loose balls on the edge of the box to set up chances for Ngog and Petrov.

But it then became all too predictable as Wanderers simply stopped trying to play. They reverted to the easy long ball up to Davies, who was now being double-marked by Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes and rendered ineffectual.

Duff continued his wing assault and, had it not been for Bogdan, would have had at least two goals to show from a pleasing day’s work.

Ngog nearly manufactured something for himself, touching the ball cleverly round Hughes and racing into the box, only to be halted by a fine challenge by Riise, and his own lack of conviction to beat the Norwegian to the ball.

Dempsey missed a gilt-edged chance for his hat trick before Coyle threw on Klasnic for Ngog in his last roll of the dice.

Unfortunately, the lack of mobility up front then made the closing stages a formality.

Fulham added only one but you sense it could have been more. Again, the Cottagers took advantage of the vast space on the wings as Riise swung the ball in for Diarra to tap home from close range.

Quite understandably the home fans had slipped into a bad mood, but to jeer Bryan Ruiz as he was stretchered off the pitch late on seemed in poor taste, considering recent events.

The few that stayed behind again let Wanderers know they had not been impressed with the lack of commitment they felt had been shown.

Thankfully, results elsewhere mean that Coyle’s side head to Newcastle today no further entrenched in the relegation than they had been at start of play on Saturday.

Whether that remains the case when they next convene at the Reebok on April 21 to face Swansea is a different matter.

Muamba’s will to fight has been an incredible inspiration over the last few weeks – but Wanderers need to make sure they don’t lose sight of their own short-term goal.