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Andrew Dillon at SunSport |
Fulham 1 Roma 1
ROY HODGSON was given a rude awakening from his dream week.
Fulham were seconds away from a sensational victory over Italian giants Roma when John Pantsil deflected an equaliser past hero keeper Mark Schwarzer.
Throw in an almighty refereeing cock-up and a penalty save and the fans were tossing and turning in this Europa League clash.
Fulham boss Hodgson is still to beat former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri in seven attempts. And a point last night was not enough to stop the Cottagers from being toppled from the summit of Group E by Swiss side Basel.
Brede Hangeland's 24th-minute headed goal should have set Fulham on their way to a win which their eye-catching football deserved.
Roma were a major disappointment until defender Marco Andreolli smashed a volley in off Pantsil's head.
In contrast, Fulham raised their game to suit the billing of the opposition and keeper Schwarzer was outstanding.
The big Australian went full stretch to keep out a John Arne Riise thunderbolt in the first half and kept his nerve amid the chaos of the referee's blunder to save a penalty with 12 minutes left.
Ref Paul Allaerts pointed to the spot when Riise hit the deck then showed Hangeland the red card for a professional foul. Only after much protest did the bungling Belgian change his mind and his decision, duly sending Fulham right-back Stephen Kelly for an early bath instead.
It was an embarrassing error - especially as he had another pair of eyes helping out. Additional assistant Johan Verbist was just feet away from the incident on the byline next to Schwarzer's right-hand post - one of the extra men on duty as part of UEFA's plan to put a stop to penalty-box mix-ups.
He had a clear view but for several minutes it was a case of the blind leading the blind.
Finally, Kelly went and Roma striker Jeremy Menez stepped up for the spot-kick. But he scuffed his shot and Schwarzer pushed it away.
Yet Fulham were robbed of their rightful three points and Hodgson was denied just three days after a win over Hull lifted them into 12th in the Premier League.
Hodgson said: "We should have won it. It's extremely hard for us. We had another extremely harsh sending-off against West Ham. This is a team which hardly commits a foul in a game that has had two players sent off in the last three games.
"We conceded a 92nd minute equaliser to a deflection and today we have conceded to the last kick of the game. We feel very aggrieved and upset about that."
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN: MARK SCHWARZER (Fulham). Fine penalty save.
FULHAM: Schwarzer 8, Kelly 6, Hangeland 8, Hughes 7, Konchesky 7 (Pantsil 6), Riise 7 (Duff 6), Greening 7, Baird 7, Gera 7, Zamora 7 (Nevland 5), Kamara 6. Subs not used: Stockdale, Dempsey, Smalling, Anderson. Sent off: Kelly.
Source .