Fulham 2 Wolfsburg 1

On another magical night of European football, Fulham gave themselves every chance of reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League with a narrow in over the Bundesliga champions, Wolfsburg.

But things could have been a whole lot easier if the German side hadn`t of scored late on. Never the less, would you back against our brave boys considering their previous adventures on the continent?

After resting several key players, much to the angst of West Ham, last weekend, (Sir) Roy Hodgson picked his strongest side possible for the clash with Wolfsburg.

However, the opening exchanges, despite a vociferous atmosphere inside Craven Cottage, were a little stale with both sides enjoying midfield possession but not creating any chances.

The first chance of the game though was engineered by Wolfsburg and Edin Dzeko saw his shot go wide. Fulham responded with an effort from Zoltan Gera but Diego Benaglio made a smart save.

Just before halt time Fulham could have taken the lead when Damien Duff went on one of his trademark runs before setting up Clint Dempsey who, unfortunately, shot wide.

Half time and it was all square and to be honest the game hadn`t lived up to its pre-match billing.

Fulham almost went a goal down not long after the second half had started when Brede Hangeland missed his defensive header but Dzeko was caught napping and couldn`t take advantage.

With fifty-nine minutes played Fulham went ahead through that man Bobby Zamora. Collecting a ball from Gera, Zamora strode forward and hit a shot from the edge of the box that curled into the corner of the net. It was yet another superb goal from Bobby.

Three minutes later Craven Cottage went ballistic as Fulham doubled their lead and this time Zamora was the provider. Collecting a pass from Danny Murphy he shielded the ball before laying it into the path of Damien Duff to fire home from fifteen yards out.

2-0 to the good and a semi-final place was looking good, sadly, with one minute left on the clock Madlung scored for Wolfsburg and suddenly you could her a pin drop inside Craven Cottage.

Next Thursday promises to be one hell of a night doesn`t it!






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