Boy, this isn’t good for the nerves. We know Roy’s an Italian type of manager, but Fulham sat back far too much in that first half. By defending so deep, the Russians had an invitation to bombard our penalty area at will for the first fifteen minutes or so. Somehow, we survived what looked like a decent shout for a penalty and Schwarzer made a brilliant reaction save at his near post.

It seemed as if Perm were shooting at will from inside our box at one stage. By far the biggest let off came towards the end of the first half when Schwarzer came to collect a corner, made a hash of it and the ball ballooned towards our goal. As a swarm of red and black shirts descended on the ball, you waited for the net to bulge but Dmitry Belorukov inexplicably headed over from a yard out.

Fulham offered little as an attacking force in the first period – our best spell of passing culminated in a free-kick whipped in by Bjorn Helge Riise. Hopefully, we’ll be a bit more ambitious in the second half.