IT takes something really special to get the normally unflappable Jussi Jaaskelainen hot under the collar.

The long-serving Wanderer has seen it all in well over a decade at the Reebok, and it’s a rare occasion indeed when he leaps into the spotlight to voice his opinions after a game.

But the big Finn had two issues he needed to get off his chest after the Whites’ goalless draw against Fulham.

The first, was his pride at having kept a third clean sheet in four games — a feat all-too-rare this season — especially given the terrible run of injuries in the back four on Saturday.

And the second was a compelling need to stick up for long-time team-mate Kevin Davies, whose late winner was mysteriously chalked out by referee Mark Clattenburg.

Like any goalkeeper, Jaaskelainen is especially protective of his clean sheet record, and few will have been hurting more than the 34-year-old when Wanderers went on a run of 22 games without one before Owen Coyle’s arrival as manager.

But when Gary Cahill pulled out of the squad before kick-off with a shoulder injury, and Gretar Steinsson made an even later withdrawal because of sickness, the Whites’ defensive plans were plunged into disarray.

“I always say I don’t mind who plays in the back four but it’s not ideal that 90 minutes before kick-off you lose two players,” he said.

“Both of them were supposed to be playing but it doesn’t really matter who plays there, just as long as they do what the manager wants.”

Andy O’Brien added to the list of casualties, limping off in the second half, and full-back Paul Robinson was struggling to see properly at the final whistle after getting a poke in the eye by a stray opponent’s hand.

All of which makes the accomplishment of keeping Fulham restricted to just one shot at target over 90 minutes all the more impressive.

“It was really pleasing,” Jaaskelainen said. “We defended well as a team, especially in the second half.

“We had been dropping too deep but the gaffer said at half time to keep a higher line and I don’t think in the second half they had a kick towards our goal.

“You can see the work we have put in. That has never been a problem, but I think you can see that the midfield players go more with the runners now and we get much tighter to our markers. You can see that because we are getting clean sheets.”

Coyle claimed after the game that any point in Wanderers’ current league predicament is a good one, although had Davies’s goal stood, three points would have tasted very sweet indeed.

Which brings us to the matter of Clattenburg’s decision, which had Jaaskelainen so animated in the final stages of the game.

“I think the referee has a history with him, if you look at his last few games,” said the Finn, with a shake of his head. “I was extremely disappointed to see Davo’s goal disallowed. The referee said he had put two hands on the defender but his hands were down when he headed the ball.

“I really don’t understand. He is a nice guy, he’s not nasty.

“Sometimes it might look that way with some of his tackles but I don’t think he is a nasty person.

“If anyone saw the first challenge on Davo by Hangeland in the area after our throw in — how is that not a penalty? It is beyond my understanding. If it was anywhere else on the pitch, it would be a foul.

“Everyone says that when you get decisions like that, they eventually become equal. But since the gaffer came in, for six or seven games, we haven’t had one big decision go our way.

“You look at Arsenal and Gallas’s tackle on Mark Davies, I don’t say it’s a sending off but it’s a free-kick.

“Then you have the Burnley game when Wade Elliott should have been sent off, and the Arsenal game at home when their second goal was offside. Hopefully the luck will turn.”