Fulham 1-1 Roma

Goal hero Brede Hangeland has questioned the validity of UEFA's six-officials experiment following the red-card howler that led to Fulham missing out on a victory over Europa League favourites AS Roma.

Roy Hodgson's side had to settle for a point after conceding an equaliser in the 93rd minute.

That cost Fulham top spot in Group E as FC Basel beat CSKA Sofia in last night's other tie.

Hangeland, who headed Fulham into a first-half lead against their Italian rivals, could not believe his eyes when he was shown red for bringing down John Arne Riise in the penalty area in the 76th minute.

Everybody inside a packed Craven Cottage could see it was right-back Stephen Kelly who brushed against Riise. Everybody, that is, except Belgian referee Paul Allaerts and Johan Verbist, one of the two extra assistant officials appointed by UEFA to stand on either goalline with specific instructions to watch for incidents inside the penalty area.

Verbist made no attempt to correct Allaerts, and it was only after a mass protest by the Fulham players that the referee withdrew the red card from Hangeland and instead brandished it at Kelly.

Hangeland, the towering centre-half who used his size and strength to beat off his Roma marker and head home a Bjorn Helga Riise corner in the 23rd minute, was furious over what he claimed was a double mistake.

The Norwegian international insisted he was between Riise and the goal so Kelly was not the last defender. “It was harsh to give a red card and a penalty,” Hangeland said. “I can't tell you what went through my mind when I was first shown the red card.

“As for the extra official, I'm a bit confused. Are they allowed to have an opinion in a situation like that? They should, because this one was two yards away and didn't say anything. He was just standing there. It's a waste of resources.”

Justice was initially served when Mark Schwarzer, who had already pulled off sensational saves from Riise and substitute Mirko Vucinic, dived low to his right and parried the scuffed penalty taken by Jeremy Menez.

But Kelly's dismissal was to have a direct bearing on Roma's eventual equaliser, scored with only seconds left of the three minutes of added time.

With Kelly off the pitch, substitute John Pantsil moved from left-back to his more usual position of right-back and Damien Duff retreated from midfield into the vacant position.

But Duff, who became Chelsea's record signing after moving from Blackburn for £17million in 2003 when Roma boss Claudio Ranieri was in charge at Stamford Bridge, was nowhere to be seen when David Pizarro swung over a corner in the dying seconds. That left Marco Andreolli unmarked at the far post to volley in for a draw that an outclassed Roma hardly deserved.

Hodgson, who must pick his deflated players up ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash at Manchester City, was furious about the penalty.

He said: “I'm not 100 per cent certain there was contact between Kelly and Riise. In fact, I think Kelly worked hard to stay out of the way because he knew Riise was looking for the penalty.

“Certainly I can't understand the sending off. I would like to have seen the assistant official make it clear to the referee that it wasn't a last-man foul.”

To add to Fulham's troubles, defender Paul Konchesky joined a growing injury list that has already ruled out Danny Murphy, Dickson Etuhu, Simon Davies and Andrew Johnson from this weekend's trip to Eastlands.