Goalless at Hamburg Arena

Damien Duff
12 April 2012

Fulham remain very much in the hunt for a place in the Europa League final after holding Hamburg to a goalless draw with a strong defensive display at the Hamburg Arena.

Jonathan Pitroipa's second-half strike was well-saved by Mark Schwarzer, who, along with Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes, played well to keep a strong Hamburg side at bay.

The two sides will reconvene in a week's time at Craven Cottage with Roy Hodgson's men hopeful of getting the win that would seal a first European final.

Aaron Hughes was quick enough to nudge Ruud van Nistelrooy aside with barely a minute gone, allowing Mark Schwarzer to quell the danger.

Paolo Guerrero failed to take the best chance that came his way, and when Jonathan Pitroipa got to the byline, instead of cutting the ball back to an expectant team-mate, he rolled it straight through to Schwarzer.

That the Fulham goalkeeper was underemployed was largely due to the efforts of a watertight defence, marshalled superbly by Hughes and Brede Hangeland, and the screening midfield talents of Danny Murphy.

It might not have been the greatest spectacle but the hardy 1,000 or so Fulham fans who had made it to northern Germany for one of the most fabulous nights in their club's history were not fussed about that as Hamburg continued in vain to look for an opener.

After giving the impression of not quite being fit all evening, Fulham's 19-goal talisman Bobby Zamora eventually ambled off seven minutes after the restart without so much as having a shot with which to mark the occasion.

If David Jarolim had not stretched out to intercept a Zoltan Gera cross bound for Zamora's replacement Clint Dempsey on the hour, the Cottagers would have been in dreamland.

Hamburg responded with their most productive spell of the game. Pitroipa, Piotr Trochowski and Jarolim all scorched Schwarzer's fingers to various degrees as Fulham finally showed signs of collective weariness before Mladen Petric nearly found the target at the end.

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