Fulham kept their chances of attaining access to the UEFA Europa League round of 32 well in check after a nervous 1-0 win over Bulgarian runers up CSKA Sofia at Craven Cottage.

It was a header by Zoltan Gera's in the first-half that sealed the win, at a time when Fulham had full dominance on the pitch. The Hungarian nodded Fulham ahead from Bjorn Helge Riise's cross, but the hosts came to regret that they failed to build up on their lead after squandering a number of chances.
It was the Bulgarians who emerged resurgent after half time and caused a legion of trouble for the Premiership side.

CSKA fought hard and refused to be subdued. Todor Timonov smashed the woodwork for the Reds in the first half as former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy put a penalty over following a foul of Ivan Ivanov's on Gera.

Fulham are still third in Group E, one point adrift from Basel, but will head into clash with the Swiss, aware that a victory will ensure their place in the next stage.

CSKA, who started without their head coach Lyuboslav Penev who was held up in Bulgaria over a legal dispute, displayed little imagination and creativity in the opening half in which the home side could have put the match well beyond their reach. Traditionally, CSKA play well against English opposition, but it half an hour into proceedings, and it appeared that the visitors would be up for a long evening.  

As the second half enveloped however, CSKA fought their way back in the match. Progressively they gained more ground and it was only the lack of clinical finishing touch from Todor Yanchev and Spas Delev that saved Fulham. The English side almost paid the price when Damien Duff was forced to clear a Kosta Yanev strike off the goal line, in what was a spell of CSKA pressure on the English goal. . .

CSKA Sofia are out of further contention but they fought well and bowed out in style. Roma are top of the group with 10 points from five matches, Basel second with nine, and Fulham third with eight. The Bulgarians are bottom of the group with just one point from five rounds.

"All credit to CSKA, they had nothing to lose in the last 20 minutes and brought talented players on. When you make changes it makes it difficult for players" Fulham manager Roy Hodgson told the BBC.

"It was foolish to miss a penalty but there were other missed chances and the game could have been dead and buried," Hodgson said.