Sava own goal dents Fulham's chances

Hertha Berlin 2 Fulham 1

Fulham face an uphill battle to reach the fourth round of the Uefa Cup after spectacularly shooting themselves in the foot against Hertha Berlin last night.

Facundo Sava, the two-goal hero in Saturday's 3-2 victory against Liverpool, scored an own goal as Jean Tigana's side slumped to a defeat that could easily have been worse.

In a desperately dull first half, Stefan Beinlich, once of Aston Villa, headed home while totally unmarked in the 25th minute. Thankfully things livened up after the break, with Steve Marlet pouncing from two yards for the equaliser after Martin Djetou's header hit the post. Only a stunning save from the Hertha goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly then stopped Djetou making it two goals in a minute.

But disaster struck for Fulham in the 67th minute when Sava, back defending Marcelinho's free-kick, stuck out his left leg and sliced the ball into the back of his own net.

Fulham's 12-match unbeaten run in Europe is now over and Tigana knows his team must win at Loftus Road in a fortnight to reach February's fourth round.

The Cottagers' 300-strong band of travelling fans will certainly not have visited many stadiums as strange as this 55,000-capacity concrete bowl, which hosted the controversial 1936 Olympics and is the likely venue for the 2006 World Cup final. The ground is dwarfed by seven giant cranes, used as part of a renovation scheme which has reduced a huge bank of terracing to a giant sandpit.

In a boring first 20 minutes, the pace of the game was more suited to a training ground work-out and the 14,000 crowd were virtually silent. It livened up when Edwin van der Sar gathered a strike by Hertha's Michael Hartmann, who had cut in from the left. Andreas Schmidt then headed wide.

That proved a sign of things to come as Hertha took the lead. First, Marcelinho seemed poised to score from 16 yards, but Alain Goma deflected his shot over the crossbar for a corner. However, from the kick, which Marcelinho took himself, Beinlich rose completely unmarked at the far post and headed past the exposed Van der Sar.

Marcelinho almost compounded Fulham's anguish 10 minutes before the interval, jinking into the box from the right and stinging Van der Sar's palms with a left-foot strike.

A rare moment of incisive attacking play from Fulham heralded their equaliser in the 52nd minute. Steed Malbranque dinked over a delightful cross which Djetou met with a towering header which beat Kiraly and rebounded off the left post for Marlet to nod into an empty net from two yards out. A minute later, substitute Luis Boa Morte crossed from the left and only a tremendous point-blank block by Kiraly from Djetou prevented Fulham taking the lead.

However, Beinlich should have punished the visitors for more non-existent marking just after the hour. Hartmann fired a diagonal ball into the box from the left wing and Beinlich, in acres of space, flicked a header well over the top.

Yet the second Hertha goal was not long delayed and arrived in unusual circumstances. Sava tried to clear Marcelinho's angled free-kick but succeeded only in slicing the ball past Van der Sar for a spectacular own-goal.

Soon afterwards, Van der Sar kept Fulham's hopes of reaching the next round alive with a brilliant save with his legs from Marcelinho's stunning volley. As Fulham pushed for an equaliser, Kiraly was in the right place to gather Marlet's header from Sean Davis' free-kick with nine minutes left.

Hertha Berlin (4-4-2): Kiraly; Friedrich, Van Burik, Marcelinho, Nene de Brito; Dardai, Schmidt (Preetz, 59), Hartmann, Goor; Beinlich (Pinto, 90), Alves (Simunic, 59). Substitutes not used: Sverrisson, Tretschok, Madlung, Fiedler (gk).

Fulham (4-4-2): Van der Sar; Finnan, Goma, Melville, Brevett; Goldbaek (Boa Morte, h-t), Malbranque (Inamoto, 79), Djetou, Davis; Sava, Marlet. Substitutes not used: Clark, Knight, Wome, Stolcers, Taylor (gk).

Referee: Dick Van Egmond (Netherlands).