Fulham's chances of qualification to the last 32 of the Europa League hangs in the balance after their 1-0 away defeat to Twente.
Marc Janko came off the bench to score for Twente
Fulham's chances of qualification to the last 32 of the Europa League hang in the balance after their last-gasp 1-0 defeat to Twente in the Netherlands on Thursday.
A late Marc Janko strike condemned the Cottagers to the loss in their penultimate Group K game, keeping them in second place on seven points but just one ahead of Wisla Krakow, who won 2-1 at Odense.
Things went from bad to worse for Fulham in injury time when Andy Johnson was sent off for a second yellow card, meaning that he will miss the all-important final group match with Odense which the London team need to win to be sure of qualification to the knockout stages.
First-half stalemate
Martin Jol's side struggled against the club he played for between 1979 and 1982, failing to muster a single shot in a first half that Twente dominated.
Nacer Chadli had the first shot of the match after 13 minutes with a drive that Mark Schwarzer saved down to his right.
The reported Fulham target tested the Australia international again moments later, before Leroy Fer unleashed a fierce shot from the edge of the box that Schwarzer did well to stop.
While the west Londoners were looking organised at the back, they were struggling to find a rhythm and get the ball out of their half.
Fulham were forced to alter their flat-looking attack in the 34th minute when Damien Duff was forced off with a knock.
Kerim Frei replaced the Republic of Ireland international and the visitors soon eked out their first chance, with Johnson thwarted by the onrushing Nikolay Mihaylov when through on goal.
The visitors started the second period brightly and six minutes after the restart Kelly's cross was headed wide by Johnson under pressure from Peter Wisgerhof.
Twente were also attacking with intent and brought on Ola John to help utilise the space down the flanks.
End-to-end action
The 19-year-old was proving dangerous down the left as Twente began to assert their authority once more, with Emir Bajrami shooting just wide from 25 yards.
Chadli and Douglas both attempted long-range efforts with the latter coming close before Johnson wriggled free in the box at the other end only to snatch at the ball and shoot across the face of goal.
Play was starting to sway from end to end and, after a Frei cross caused trouble in the Twente box, Luuk de Jong wasted a gilt-edged chance to break the deadlock as he headed wide from six yards.
Both sides were looking dangerous going forward and Bobby Zamora was unfortunate to direct a well-worked Danny Murphy free-kick wide in the 71st minute.
Fulham pushed forward in numbers as rain began to pour down in a final 10 minutes that saw Dembele limp off.
Things got worse for the visitors when neat play from Twente saw Janko turn home Roberto Rosales' cross.
The goal two minutes from time was compounded further by Johnson's sending-off in stoppage time for a second yellow card after he kicked the ball away.
| FC Twente |
Team Statistics |
Fulham |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 4 |
Shots on Target |
0 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
3 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 6 |
Corners |
0 |
| 13 |
Fouls |
13 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
1 |
| 88.4 |
Passing Success |
80.7 |
| 20 |
Tackles |
7 |
| 70 |
Tackles Success |
57.1 |
| 62 |
Possession |
38 |
| 58 |
Territorial Advantage |
42 |
| 631 |
Total Passes |
405 |
| 42 |
Total Crosses |
2 |
| 133 |
Lost Balls |
147 |
| 59 |
Recoveries |
53 |
|
