Malbranque saves Fulham

Fulham 2 Hajduk Split 2 Fulham win 3-2 on aggregate

What was it Fulham's manager Jean Tigana had said before this Uefa Cup first-round second leg? "We must be calm.'' Rarely can a team have made a worse job of following instructions.

Having won 1-0 in Split a fortnight earlier, the Londoners appeared ideally placed to progress in their first European Campaign.

But it required a controversial and twice-taken penalty by the man who had scored in Croatia, Steed Malbranque, to earn Fulham the draw which saw them through a match where they spent as much time creating chances near their own goal as they did in their opponents' area.

Malbranque's opportunity occurred three minutes from the end of a crazily fluctuating first half which had seen the visitors twice take the lead.

After Malbranque's fellow Frenchman Steve Marlet had fallen under a challenge from Hrvoje Vejic on the edge of the box, Malbranque's first effort from the spot was disallowed because he had taken the kick before the Italian referee had cleared the area of defenders. Second time around, Monsieur Cool drove the ball neatly into the opposite corner.

"When you have to repeat a penalty, sometimes you can miss,'' said Fulham's assistant coach, Christian Damiano. "It was vital Steed kept his blood cold.''

Fulham's blood had run cold much earlier, however, as their opponents levelled the aggregate score within seven minutes when a 25-yard free-kick from Vlatko Dolonga was deflected past Edwin van der Sar.

But within 10 minutes the celebrations of the flag-waving Croatian followers behind the goal were stilled as Marlet picking up a pass from the hard-working Malbranque, which also took a fortuitous deflection, and equalised.

Were Fulham about to take control of their destiny? Certainly not. A period of increasingly erratic defending ended five minutes before the break with another Hajduk goal from a set-piece. On this occasion it was a corner from which Vejic was allowed space to thump home a header.

After the break, opportunities to put the tie beyond doubt arrived with dizzying irregularity for Fulham, but they contrived to miss them all, with Marlet and Sean Davis contributing the two most excruciating moments of failure in front of open goals.

Inevitably the home fans grew edgy as their team appeared likely to allow Hajduk a third, and what would have been a winning away goal.

Fulham lived dangerously to the very end, requiring a headed goal line clearance from their substitute Junichi Inamoto to prevent Mato Neretljak scoring for the visitors from a 90th-minute corner.

But Tigana's troops march on and Hajduk's coach Zoran Vulic for one expects them to reach the Uefa Cup final. That looks a very tall order for a side, which, despite their cosmopolitan blend, are still feeling their way in continental competition. However, Fulham's fans can still afford to dream – and the news that their London neighbours Chelsea had fallen by the wayside gave them a final reason to be exuberantly cheerful.

Fulham (4-4-2): Van der Sar; Ouaddou, Knight, Melville, Brevett; Legwinski, Davis, Malbranque, Boa Morte (Inamoto, 67); Marlet, Sava (Hayles, 74). Substitutes not used: Taylor (gk), Clark, Collins, Womé, Leacock.

Hajduk Split (3-4-3): Pletikosa; Vukovic, Vejic, Neretljak; Miladin, Andric, Carevic (Mise, 84), Dolonga; Srna, Deranja (Racunica, 71), Bule. Substitutes not used: Runje (gk), Piric, Radeljic, Brgles, Gudelj.

Referee: S Farina (Italy).