Inamoto's hat-trick fires Fulham into Uefa Cup

Fulham 3 Bologna 1 Fulham win 5-3 on aggregate

Junichi Inamoto repaid the faith of Fulham's manager, Jean Tigana, with a superb hat-trick last night that put Fulham into the Uefa Cup for the first time in their history.

In a thrilling, fast-paced, end-to-end second leg of this Intertoto Cup final, Inamoto, who is on loan from Arsenal, gave Fulham a dream start with a well-taken goal in the 12th minute. Inamoto, though, temporarily went from hero to villain as his sloppy defending let Bologna equalise after 34 minutes.

But the 22-year-old, in his first start for Fulham, struck twice more in the first five minutes of the second half to secure a piece of football history for the Cottagers, now playing at their temporary Loftus Road home.

Fulham's only previous European adventure was three games in the Anglo-Italian Cup nearly 20 years ago. But the 2-2 draw they secured in the first leg in Bologna a fortnight ago set up a historic night – and they stretched their unbeaten run to 10 matches with some style.

Inamoto, who did not find favour at Arsenal despite shining at the World Cup in his homeland, gave Fulham the lead when he swapped passes with Facundo Sava on the edge of the box and drilled a shot beyond Gianluca Pagliuca and into the bottom left corner. But Inamoto's slack marking then allowed Tomas Locatelli time and space on the left edge of the box to fire a deflected equaliser into the far corner.

The Swiss referee, Massimo Busacca, had his work cut out as passion crept into the game and tempers flared when flying tackles came in. He booked Fulham's Sylvain Legwinski and Steve Finnan, plus four players from Bologna.

Inamoto capitalised on some poor defending when he pounced 75 seconds after the re-start and scored the goal that put Fulham back in front and completed a brilliant hat-trick after 50 minutes. After running on to a pass from Marlet, his first effort was blocked by Pagliuca. But he raced on to the follow-up to steer the ball home.

Fulham might have won more comfortably, but there were some heroics from the veteran Pagliuca. He made several flying saves, the pick of which saw him deny Luis Boa Morte, Steve Marlet, and the substitute Louis Saha late on. Marlet had also crashed a header against the bar after 48 minutes and Fulham were good value for their comprehensive victory.

Fulham: Van der Sar; Finnan, Brevett, Knight, Goma, Inamoto (Malbranque, 72), Marlet (Saha, 72), Legwinski, Sava, Davis (Collins, 74), Boa Morte. Substitutes not used: Taylor, Melville, Hayles, Ouaddou.

Bologna: Pagliuca; Zaccardo, Olive, Castellini, Nervo, Colucci, Cruz, Signori (Bellucci, 61), Falcone, Locatelli (Frara, 78), Paramatti (Smit, 78). Substitutes: Coppola, Gamberini, Goretti, Meghni.

Referee: M Busacca (Switzerland).