Late equaliser puts Stoke in knockout stage

Kenwyne Jones spoke of his pride after his late header earned Stoke the point they needed against Dynamo Kiev to secure a place in the Europa League knockout stages.

The visitors deservedly took the lead in the 28th minute when Oleksandr Aliyev’s shot was turned into his own net by Matthew Upson. But Stoke rallied after the break and found the equaliser nine minutes from time when Jones nodded in Jermaine Pennant’s cross.

“We know it was important for us to get something to make it into the next round, so I’m happy we pulled it off in the end,” Jones said. “Kiev are a very good team and they’ve been playing in Europe for years and years but we were at home. We went 1-0 down but have a never-say-die attitude.”

A 3-2 away win over Maccabi Tel Aviv means Besiktas will join Stoke in the next stage if they win their final Group E match.

Fulham’s Mousa Dembele believes the Cottagers can overcome the disappointment of last night’s defeat away to FC Twente and qualify for the last 32.

Marc Janko stabbed home an 89th-minute goal to give the Dutch side a 1-0 win, which ensures they will finish top of Group K. However, Fulham can still join them in the knockout stages if they win their final group match at home to Odense of Denmark on 14 December. Dembele said: “Everybody will work hard enough to win the final game. It’s very important to us and I think we’ll win it.” On last night’s game, the 24-year-old Belgian added: “We tried to play our way and we would have been happy to take a point but Twente had most of the game.”

Fulham knew three points in Holland would guarantee qualification, but they were foiled by Austrian substitute Janko’s late intervention.

Things got worse when Andrew Johnson was sent off in stoppage time, meaning he will miss the all-important final group match.

Wisla Krakow gave themselves hope with a 2-1 win over Odense in Denmark and must now beat Twente in their final game and hope the Londoners slip up.

Romanians Vaslui fought a fine rearguard action to claim a goalless draw at home to Serie A giants Lazio and leave themselves a fine chance of progressing as runners-up from Group D.

Sporting Lisbon wrapped up their place as group winners after a 2-0 win over Zurich.

Vaslui’s point leaves them locked together with Lazio heading into the final set of games – with the Romanians away to rock-bottom Zurich and Lazio at home to the group winners.

Athletic Bilbao’s 2-1 win over Slovan Bratislava earned their qualification from Group F, but Paris St Germain’s surprise 2-0 defeat by Salzburg gave the Austrians a glimmer of hope. Bilbao will win the group unless the French side manage to beat them by more than two goals next month. Salzburg can still sneak second place if Paris lose their final match and the Austrians win in Bratislava.

Anderlecht stretched their 100 per cent record at the top of Group L to five games with a 2-1 win at pointless AEK Athens, while group rivals Lokomotiv Moscow also did enough to secure qualification, easing past Sturm Graz 3-1 in the Russian capital.

Schalke secured Group J top spot with a 2-1 home win over Steaua Bucharest, while AEK Larnaca blew the runners-up spot wide open by beating Maccabi Haifa. The Israelis host Schalke in their final group game knowing victory will be enough to send them through but, if they slip up, the winners of Steaua’s clash with AEK in Bucharest will grab second place.