Vagner reduces Millwall's cup adventure to one-act drama

<preform>Ferencvaros 3 Millwall 1 </br>(Ferencvaros win 4-2 on agg)</preform>

Millwall's European dream came to a bitter end in Budapest last night as they were comprehensively outplayed by Ferencvaros in their Uefa Cup first-round, second-leg tie.

Millwall's European dream came to a bitter end in Budapest last night as they were comprehensively outplayed by Ferencvaros in their Uefa Cup first-round, second-leg tie. The Hungarian champions took control thanks to first-half goals from Denes Rosa, Sorin Botis and Robert Vagner.

The visitors survived a major scare in the sixth minute. Darren Ward lost the ball to Peter Lipscei, who slipped it outside him to Rosa, and Graham Stack was required to make a fine point-blank stop.

Just when it appeared Millwall had settled into their stride, Ferencvaros took the lead. Vagner crossed from the left and Rosa, whose run from midfield had gone unnoticed, found himself alone eight yards out with the easy task of heading past Stack in the 26th minute.

Millwall could have equalised immediately afterwards when the home defender Sorin Botis failed to deal with a bouncing ball, but the Ferencvaros goalkeeper, Lajos Szucs, produced an excellent save from Neil Harris's fierce 11-yard drive.

Four minutes later, Ferencvaros took control of the game with a controversial second goal. Botis's header from Rosa's deep cross hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down on to the line and, although the ball did not appear to cross it, the linesman awarded a goal.

The home side added a third just before half-time, Vagner's shot from the edge of the area in the 40th minute deflecting off Ward to leave Stack with no chance.

Millwall managed to reply shortly before the break, when Jody Morris set up David Livermore inside the area, and his left-foot shot was deflected into the path of the visitors' player-manager, Dennis Wise, who clipped the ball over Szucs.

Millwall almost pulled the score back to 3-2 early in the second half, Wise's left-foot curler from the edge of the area going narrowly wide.

At the other end, Vagner hit a sweet shot just past Stack's right-hand post as Ferencvaros held on comfortably.

* A man was stabbed and seriously injured in clashes between Ferencvaros and Millwall supporters in the build-up to the game. The man, described by the emergency services as English-speaking, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Three other fans were treated for lesser injuries.

Ferencvaros: Szucs, Vukmir, Gyepes, Botis, Balog, Rosa, Zovath, Tozser, Lipcsei, Vagner, Penksa. Substitutes: Udvaracz, Kiss, Leandro, Zavadszky, Sasu, Sowunmi, Bajevski.

Millwall: Stack, Lawrence, Muscat, Ward, Simpson, Elliott, Wise, Morris, Livermore, Ifill, Harris. Substitutes: Marshall, McCammon, Sweeney, Dunne, Phillips, Cogan.

Referee: E Braamhaar (Netherlands).