Chris Powell said he tried to make positive, attacking changes as Town fought in vain to avoid a fourth defeat in six Championship games.
The manager, whose side slipped to 18th, made a double substitution in the 75th minute, when Town were trailing 1-0, having missed two penalties (both by Nahki Wells), and Fulham were down to 10 men following skipper Shaun Hutchinson’s 61st-minute red card for handball.
Joe Lolley and Radi Majewski replaced Tommy Smith and Jonathan Hogg, whose withdrawal brought boos from home fans in an 11, 635 tickets-issued crowd (499 from Fulham).
Then, in the 87th minute, Powell handed a debut to Jake Charles, who replaced David Edgar.
Charles has just been called up by Wales Under 21s (along with Town teammate Joe Wright) while Edgar will join up with Canada and Wells with Bermuda.
Powell revealed that both midfielder Hogg and defender Smith played despite carrying knocks.
But he added: “We were trying our hardest to get a goal – and I wanted to get attacking players out there.”
Town were behind after two minutes, when Swedish winger Alex Kacaniklic netted direct from a corner.
“I’m at a loss as to how it got through and into the net. We should have cut it out,” said Powell.
“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb by conceding so early, but we did start to climb that mountain.
“We created chances, but their keeper (Marcus Bettinelli) had one of those days where he saved it, clawed it away or got something on it.
“It was just unbelievable.
“We hit the post and the bar and that’s not even mentioning the two penalties or the sending off.
“The game had everything bar a goal for us. We just couldn’t get it in the back of the net.”
Fulham’s second, through French substitute Seko Fofana, came six minutes into stoppage time.
“Between the two goals, we had pretty much all the play,” added Powell. “But we have to start making possession and chances count.
“We still need wins to be sure of safety and this was a big opportunity lost.”
