CSKA Sofia 1-1 Fulham

Chris Smalling was today hailed as a player with big potential following his man-of-the-match performance in Fulham's opening Europa League group game here.

The 19-year-old Londoner was thrown in at the deep end by manager Roy Hodgson as he was given his first-team debut against the Bulgarian League leaders, who had not conceded a goal in five domestic games.

But the England Under-20 centrehalf rose to the challenge at the Vasil Levski Stadium, leaving teammate John Pantsil to say: "Chris was fantastic. He is definitely a player to watch in the future. I was talking to him throughout the game and he listened. He made some good passes, some good tackles, and he won the ball in the air. You couldn't tell it was his first game."

Ghana right-back Pantsil was the only outfield survivor of the team that beat Everton on Sunday but said the result vindicated Roy Hodgson's decision to make wholesale changes.

Smalling and Chris Baird formed an untried partnership at the heart of Fulham's defence and 23-year-old goalkeeper David Stockdale made only his second start.

In the event, Stockdale produced a stunning second-half save from Yordan Todorov, pushing over the winger's stinging shot. That kept Fulham in the match after Diomansy Kamara (right) had equalised with a cool solo effort just three minutes after Sofia substitute Michel had fired the home side ahead with an unstoppable volley on the hour mark.

Pantsil said: "There were some young boys out there, but they showed a lot of character."

Once again, however, only Pantsil is likely to keep his place at Wolves on Sunday when Hodgson will switch back to his established first team.

The first round of Europa League group stage games saw the introduction of an extra official behind each goal-line as part of a UEFA experiment. But they were of little comfort to Fulham, who had what appeared to be a decent penalty appeal turned down when Erik Nevland was sent flying.

Hodgson said: "Erik is quite an honest player and to see him protest so vehemently that he'd been tripped would lead me to believe that maybe he was."