Stoke players pelted with missiles by fans in Turkey

TURKISH football could find itself back in the dock after another night of controversy in Europe as Stoke City were subjected to shameful intimidation at Besiktas on Wednesday night. Coins and cigarette lighters were among the objects hurled at the Stoke players during their 3-1 Europa League defeat.

England winger Jermaine Pennant came in for particular attention from the crowd and later admitted the thuggery had had the desired effect. "I was about to take a corner and I was getting pelted with everything," said Pennant. "I didn't want to take it because every second I could see things flying past me... I didn't feel comfortable taking the corner and then the referee called me away."

But despite the behaviour of the Besiksas fans, Stoke manager Tony Pulis insisted the club wouldn't be taking the matter any further. He later told The Daily Mail: "We won't be complaining to anyone. We're Stoke and we don't complain. Hopefully we'll have benefited from all this."

Uefa, though, might not let the matter lie given Turkish football's track record of crowd trouble. Earlier in the year Austria goalkeeper Juergen Macho was felled by an object thrown during a 2012 European Championship qualifier in Istanbul, while there have been violent incidents in recent years involving fans of Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.

Last month there was outrage over the Besiktas fans' treatment of Emmanuel Eboue, the former Arsenal player now with Galatasaray, who was pelted with missles by supporters.

In March this year the Turkish parliament passed new legislation to try and combat hooliganism. Spectators who chant racial slurs and obscenities in or around stadiums now face up to two years in prison.

On the pitch Ricardo Fuller gave Stoke a first-half lead before the home side scored three times in the final half hour to end Stoke's unbeaten run in the competition. The result had no bearing on Stoke's European aspirations as they had qualified for the last 32 of the competition prior to their trip to Turkey.

That wasn't the case for Fulham, however, who needed to defeat Danish side Odense BK to guarantee their passage to the next phase of the competition. That looked assured at half time thanks to goals from Clint Dempsey and Swiss teenager Kerim Frei, but the visitors pulled one back on the hour mark and then deep into overtime Djiby Fall levelled for the Danes.
 
Fulham manager Martin Jol later fumed: "We were 2-1 up and then 30 seconds from the end we did not have the cleverness or experience to keep it in their half." ·