Malbranque sparks late rally as Fulham dispose of Dynamo

Fulham 2 Dynamo Zagreb 1 Fulham win 5-1 on aggregate

Fulham's desperate Premiership form – four successive defeats – looked like being maintained in a European context last night until goals in the 89th and 90th minutes from Steed Malbranque and Luis Boa Morte gave the home team a win they scarcely deserved.

The London side's 3-0 success in the away leg of this Uefa Cup second-round tie offered them a hugely comfortable cushion as they went into this match but, after Ivica Olic had put the visitors 1-0 up on the night soon after the break, Fulham looked briefly in danger of a calamitous collapse in their first European campaign.

They had begun the game with a lack of urgency that may have been encouraged by the pre-match comments of their manager, Jean Tigana. "For me this week,'' the Frenchman announced, "the most important thing is the Birmingham game on Sunday. It's not the Uefa Cup.''

Suitably inspired, Fulham strolled through a rain-swept first half which nevertheless offered them regular opportunities to build on their formidable aggregate lead. Sylvain Legwinski, Junichi Inamoto and Bjarne Goldbaek all went close, and three minutes from half time Facundo Sava was a fraction away from converting Boa Morte's driven cross at the far post.

The successive home chances, however, did nothing to halt the incessant vocal support of the travelling supporters grouped behind the Zagreb goal, who demonstrated an almost inhuman ability to sing Abba tunes without break.

The Dynamo choir was presented with tangible reward seven minutes after half time when Olic beat Edwin van der Sar with a header after Dumitru Mitu's finely judged cross had found him at the far post. Olic – who scored for Croatia in their 2-1 World Cup victory over Italy in the summer – had a chance to double his tally just one minute later but shot weakly from inside the area and Zagreb's impetus faltered.

The visiting coach, Miroslav Blazevic, said he had believed briefly that a "football sensation'' was on the cards. But that intimation gradually died away as his side failed to press their advantage against a team which was buttressed by three substitutions that Tigana would have preferred not to have made.

For his part, Blazevic could only bemoan the way his side had been defeated in the opening leg. "I believe Dynamo were the best team tonight, but you do not always get what you deserve. It was hard to come back after the first leg, although the major cause for us to be beaten then was having a player sent off undeservedly.''

It was one of the new arrivals, Malbranque, who tipped the game back towards Fulham as he ran onto Goldbaek's through ball and calmly steered an equaliser wide of Ivan Turina.

Zagreb's sense of injustice was increased five minutes later as Malbranque's cross from the left found their defence in tatters, and Boa Morte had an age to pick his spot for the winner.

Afterwards, Tigana agreed that he would happily swap this victory for one at Birmingham in three days' time. Asked which team he fancied meeting when the names came out of the hat for the Uefa Cup third round today, Tigana replied: "For me the priority is the Sunday game, not the draw.''

The way he and his team are going they could end up winning this tournament without even wanting to.

Fulham (4-4-2): Van der Sar; Finnan, Melville, Goma, Brevett; Clark (Djétou, 73), Legwinski, Goldbaek, Inamoto (Malbranque, 64); Boa Morte, Sava (Marlet, 60). Substitutes not used: Taylor (gk), Ouaddou, Womé, Stolcers.

Dynamo Zagreb (3-5-2): Turina; Sedloski, Smoje, Cesar; Mikic, Kranjcar (Juric, 77), Agic, Mitu, Krznar; Balaban, Olic. Substitues not used: Butina (gk), Mujcin, Zahora, Petrovic, Bosnjak, Drpic.

Referee: L Duhamel (France).