Europa League qualifying wrap: Fulham ease into third round

Fulham progressed to the third round of Europa League qualifying after a 4-0 win over Crusaders on Thursday sealed a 7-1 aggregate victory.

The English Premier League outfit thumped Crusaders at Craven Cottage thanks to goals from Andrew Johnson, Damien Duff, Bobby Zamora and Steve Sidwell.

Fulham, who handed signing John Arne Riise his debut, began the brighter of the two sides and Johnson tested goalkeeper Sean O’Neill after seven minutes.

They dominated proceedings in the opening stages and got their reward courtesy of an assist from their new signing.

Riise took 19 minutes to make his mark as his ball into the box set up Johnson to fire home from inside the area.

The Northern Irish side offered little in attack as the Premier League outfit began a second-half onslaught on the part-timers, scoring three goals in a 15 minute period.

They were two goals to the good four minutes before the hour mark as defender Philippe Senderos set up Duff to score from inside the area for his second of the campaign.

England international Zamora continued his rehabilitation after his broken leg last season by adding a third – again from inside the box – after being set-up by strike partner Johnson.

Duff turned provider and set up fellow midfielder Sidwell to rifle in a fourth from close range to complete the scoring on 70 minutes.

Fulham will meet RNK Split in the third qualifying round with the first leg to be played in Croatia next Thursday.

Scottish Premier League side Dundee United lost out to Polish outfit Slask Wroclaw on away goals despite winning the second leg 3-2 at home.

Dundee slumped to a 1-0 loss in the first leg in Poland and Slask’s two away goals were enough to ensure their progression into the penultimate round of qualifying.

Other teams to progress included Eredivisie side ADO Den Haag, Belgian outfit KVC Westerlo and Austrian Bundesliga club FK Austria Wien.

Swedish team Elfsborg, Bulgaria’s Lokomotiv Sofia, Liga Sagres outfit Nacional and Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg also won through to the third round.