Stoke City are through while Fulham stumble in Europa League
The Britannia Stadium was packed to capacity with noisy Potters fans as Stoke City went in search of the single point they needed to move into the last 32 of the Europa League against Dynamo Kiev.
The match was devoid of action as Stoke seemed more interested in not allowing Dynamo to score than scoring themselves, that was until Matthew Upson deflected a shot from Oleksandr Aliyev into the Potters’ net after 28 minutes, then it became a whole new ball game as Stoke had to equalise or wait until Match Day 6 and hope to win then.
Kenwyne Jones had a couple of good chances saved but poor marking left the Stoke striker free to rise above the defence and head home the equaliser in the 81st minute.
Dynamo piled on the pressure but were not able to make the much beeded breakthrough. Final score at the Britannia Stadium: Stoke City 1 – 1 Dynamo Kiev.
Fulham travelled to Holland to face Twente Enschede needing a win, but came away with zip!
Martin Jol’s side struggled against the club he played for between 1979 and 1982. It was bizarre to a fulham side that couldn’t get a single shot on goal in a first half that Twente dominated.
Fulham’s misery was compounded by an injury to Damien Duff who was replaced midway through the 1st half. Martin Jol’s teamtalk at halftime did something as the Cottagers looked a more cohesive attacking unit after the restart.
Despite numerousa ttacks on goal in the latter stages by Fulham, Twente were the team to make the breakthrough in the 89th minute through Marc Janco.
Andrew Johnson played his heart out in both attack an defence and his frustration got the better of him as kicked the ball away and was shown a 2nd yellow card sp off he marched with seconds remaining. So Martin Jol will have to waint until Match Day 6 to see if Fulham will progress. Final score from the De Grolsch Veste: Twente Enschede 1 – 0 Fulham.
In other Match Day 5 Europa League matches played last night:
- FC Vaslui 0 – 0 Lazio
- Sporting Lisbon 2 – 0 FC Zurich
- Maccabi Tel-Aviv 2 – 3 Besiktas
- Athletic Bilbao 2 – 1 Slovan Bratislava
- SV Salzburg 2 – 0 Paris Saint-Germain
- AEK Larnaca 2 – 1 Maccabi Haifa
- Schalke 04 2 – 1 -Steaua Bucuresti
- Odense BK 1 – 2 Wisla Krakow
- Lokomotiv Moscow 3 – 1 SK Sturm Graz
- AEK Athens 1 – 2 Anderlecht
Staff reporter, SportsCentral
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