Hodgson on Qualification

Fulham qualified for the Group Stage of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday but they were made to sweat for their 3-2 aggregate victory.

Going into the Play-Off second-leg match in Perm, the Whites held a two-goal advantage over their hosts. Despite persistent pressure from Amkar throughout the match, Fulham held firm until the final minute of normal time, when Kushev finally found a way past Mark Schwarzer.

Fortunately, Fulham were able to restrict the home side to the solitary strike and rode out a tense few minutes of added time to clinch their place in the Group Stage.

Speaking after the match, Fulham Manager Roy Hodgson gave his reaction:

“I thought it was a very good game,” he said. “I’m very happy that we went through. I thought Amkar played particularly well and made life difficult for us today – throughout the 90 minutes. The very late goal made the last five minutes of the game extra exciting.

“Over the two legs Amkar have shown what a good team they are, we’ve had to work extremely hard for our aggregate victory. The games have been played very fairly and correctly – apart from the one unfortunate incident [Andrew Johnson’s injury]. The game today was played in very good spirit and there were very few fouls committed by either team.

“I have great sympathy for my colleague [Amkar Manager Dimitar Dimitrov] and for all of the Amkar team because in the last part of the match at Craven Cottage and in the 90 minutes today, they’ve shown that they are a good quality team and they have stretched us to the limit in order to get our qualification.”

Amkar rallied in the final stages following their goal, knowing that a second strike would put them through on the away goals rule. Certainly it was also an anxious moment for Hodgson.

“I was concerned then because they had nothing to lose,” he explained. “I knew the ball would be in our penalty area at every opportunity. But I must say that we also spurned two or three very good chances to score.

“I don’t think we played very well today, we didn’t pass the ball well or use it well when we got it. We were guilty of giving the ball away far too regularly. But we’re playing without six of our regular players and on an artificial surface, so I have to be kind to my players because it’s something that they’re not used to.”