Source: SKY_Sports
Hodgson happy to be through
// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Roy Hodgson was relieved to see Fulham qualify for the Europa League group phase after a 1-0 defeat by Amkar Perm.[LNB] Fulham held a 3-1 advantage from the first leg at Craven Cottage and just about hung on to claim a place in the next round.[LNB]Martin Kushev scored the only goal of the night in the final minute before Amkar Perm missed a golden chance in injury-time which would have knocked Fulham out on away goals.[LNB]Hodgson admitted his team had been pushed to the limit by the Russian side and was relieved to be in Friday's draw for the group stage.[LNB]Difficult"I thought it was a very good game and I'm very happy that we went through," said Hodgson.[LNB]"Amkar played particularly well today and made life difficult for us throughout the 90 minutes.[LNB]"And of course with the very late goal it made the last five minutes of the game extra exciting.[LNB]"In the second half, or the last part of the match at Craven Cottage and the 90 minutes today, they [Amkar] have shown that they are a very good quality team and they have stretched us to the limit in order to get our qualification.[LNB]"The fact that Amkar came forward and played so well was all credit to them.[LNB]"I don't think today we attacked well, I don't think we passed the ball well, I don't think we used the ball very well when we got it, so we were guilty of giving the ball away back to the opposition far too often."[LNB]Hodgson was, however, reluctant to criticise his players for the lacklustre performance, with many making their first starts of the season on a difficult pitch.[LNB]Hodgson said: "We were playing without six of our regular players and we were also playing on an artificial surface, so I have to be kind to my players because it is something they are not used to and we had several players playing their first match in the first team today.[LNB]"The players who have come in - Chris Baird, Stephen Kelly, Zoltan Gera, Bjorn Riise - they don't have the same level of skill perhaps as the others.[LNB]"Also Amkar do have a quite clear advantage playing at home because they are so used to the [artificial] pitch and know so well how to play on that field, whereas we unfortunately, with just one 45 minute training session, did not feel as comfortable as Amkar did."[LNB]Clint Dempsey added to his manager's injury worries after pulling out of training on Wednesday with an ankle injury, but Hodgson revealed that choosing not to involve the American was merely a precaution ahead of Sunday's clash with Aston Villa at Villa Park.[LNB]Hodgson said: "He [Dempsey] injured himself in training yesterday.[LNB]"There is no ligament damage. We hope, like our other injured players, that we will be fit for Sunday.[LNB]"It was certainly a precaution. If he'd have played today we would not have played on Sunday."[LNB]
