Fulham fans will be thankful that Chris Martin’s future at Craven Cottage appears to have been sorted after his two vital contributions to the 2-0 victory over Barnsley.

The striker has seen his future in limbo since Christmas, with Derby boss Steve McClaren reportedly an admirer of the tall powerful striker, keen to see his loan spell in West London brought to a close.

It left Fulham’s top scorer refusing to join the starting line-ups in games against Ipswich and Brighton, and also the fog-abandoned match against Reading.

However, after a head-to-head with boss Slavisa Jokanovic in midweek, Fulham got an instant result, with a victory which took Fulham to within a point of Derby in the Championship table.

After scoring a late first-half penalty, Martin then turned provider for Scott Malone, with Fulham taking all three points at Craven Cottage.

"Chris does a great job for Fulham and the people here know how important he is for us," said Jokanovic.

"We have fought hard to get him to stay here and his performance against Barnsley showed what a great professional he is and I am very happy that he is back with us.

"We played very good football, we created many things along with a clean sheet. This is more important for us.

"He was a little bit confused and now he has cleared his mind, and I have promised to make him better and improve his quality.

"I expect him to play many more times for us, but in football you never know what will happen."

The first half was largely dominated by Fulham with Sone Aluko and Chelsea loanee Lucas Piazon making a series of dangerous raids down their right flank. 

However, it was two interventions by Martin just either side of the interval whicy eventually settled the destination of the three points.

A push in the back from Barnsley’s Angus MacDonald saw Martin felled in first half stoppage time, quickly getting back to his fee and quickly got back to his feet to convert the penalty.

And it was to get better ten minutes after the break, Martin proved he could be a provider as well.

As part of a counter attack, the 28-year-old could have made a direct run at the Barnsley goal, but chose instead to send a deep cross into the area which Malone powered home for Fulham’s second and his own third of the season.

That was the end of Barnsley’s challenge and it was only a series of reaction saves from Davies that prevented Fulham from doubling their advantage.

"The penalty was a killer for us because you don’t want to go behind at Fulham," said Barnsley boss Heckingbottom.

"But to be fair I thought we were second best throughout the match – I was very disapponted with the way we started the game."