Slavisa Jokanovic refused to point the finger at Aleksandar Mitrovic after the striker's late mistake cost Fulham all three points at Brighton.
The Serbian had scored his fourth goal of the season in just four Premier League appearances to give his side a two-goal lead at the Amex, adding to Andre Schurrle's first-half opener.
But the hosts grabbed a goal back through Glenn Murray, before Mitrovic inexplicably handled the ball inside the area in the 84th minute, allowing Murray to fire home his second and secure a share of the points.
The 23-year-old has enjoyed a ferocious start to life back in the top flight and appears to be thriving under the tutelage of Jokanovic, with no other player in England's top four tiers scoring more than his 16 goals since his move to Craven Cottage in January.
It is in stark contrast to the frustrating end he endured to his time at St James' Park, when Rafa Benitez made clear that he did not trust him in his team.
It is the first time that unpredictable streak has surfaced since his move south, the player booked, too, for his protests against the decision - but his manager says there is no need for the forward to say sorry.
'He doesn't need to apologise,' said the Fulham manager. 'It was bad luck, a mistake he knows. He doesn't need me to explain that he doesn't need to touch the ball in this situation. He is strong enough to keep going.
'OK, he made one mistake but on the other side he scored the goal and was playing at the same level he has started the season. I don't want to point the finger at my player, it doesn't make any sense.'
In fairness, it was a game littered with mistakes, the first of which belonged to Fulham's defence. They failed to play to the whistle and Anthony Knockaert was able to run on to his own pass as Murray managed to avoid interfering with play in his offside position. Knockaert fed it back to the striker who was brought down by Luciano Vietto for Brighton's first penalty of the day.
Another error soon followed as Pascal Gross failed to convert from 12 yards, his effort tipped round the right-hand post by Marcus Bettinelli.
Andre Schurrle made them pay with a well-taken opener, bringing down Jean Michael Seri's beautiful, lofted pass and finishing low into the bottom-left-hand corner on the angle.
Mitrovic then made it two, seizing on a mistake by Lewis Dunk at the back and finishing past Mathew Ryan at the second attempt, before poor defending at the other end allowed Knockaert to pick up a loose ball and feed the evergreen Murray to grab his first.
The 34-year-old's second from the spot, his third goal of the season, atoned for the earlier miss by his team-mate, but despite the wasted chances, manager Chris Hughton admitted he had to be happy with a point given the circumstances.
'Irrespective of any kind of balance of play, I think when you're 2-0 down, in the Premier League, there are more positives than negatives, so definitely a good point for us,' he said.
'It's still relief. We lost momentum after we missed the first penalty. There were good bits and bad bits but I want to think more about the good bits - but definitely we deserved it.'
