Roy Hodgson said on Wednesday that Fulham had not had much luck with officials in the Europa League, and things did not improve at the Stadio Olimpico last night.

At half-time, they looked on course for a famous victory after taking an early lead through Diomansy Kamara’s penalty. But a controversial red card robbed them of the initiative.

They had to play the final 41 minutes with ten men after Erik Nevland, a substitute, was sent off by Kevin Blom, the Dutch referee, only four minutes after taking the field, and Roma equalised in the 69th minute when a shot by John Arne Riise, the Roma and former Liverpool defender, went in off his brother, Bjorn Helge, the Fulham midfield player.

Stefano Okaka Chuka, the Italy Under-20 forward, scored Roma’s winner seven minutes later and Paul Konchesky was sent off in injury time to add a further burden of suspension to Hodgson’s squad, whose qualification from group E now looks to be an uphill task and one in which they have to win both remaining matches.

Perhaps luck evened itself out last night because Jonathan Greening was lucky to stay on the field and Blom turned down strong appeals for a penalty from Roma, but those thoughts did not improve Hodgson’s mood.

“You can’t be happy to play the second half with only ten men,” he said. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow. The red cards were both very harsh, but what I think makes no difference.

“All the time it has been 11 against 11, Roma against Fulham, I think we have given a marvellous account of ourselves and I’d even go as far as to say we have been better than them. But at 11 against ten they came into the game much stronger and as a result scored two goals.”

The manager admitted that it will be difficult for Fulham to progress. “We’re struggling, I would think,” he said. “It will be a struggle to get 11 players on the field because of suspensions. If we win the last two games [at home to CSKA Sofia and away to Basle], we’ve got a chance.”

Fulham’s goal after 18 minutes was created by Zoltan Gera’s clever pass down the right to Clint Dempsey. The Texan sped into the penalty area and played the ball inside to Kamara, who was tripped by Marco Andreolli. Blom’s award of a penalty, converted by Kamara, was about the only decision he made that everyone could agree with.

Roma pressed for an equaliser without testing Mark Schwarzer, but they appealed loudly for a penalty of their own late in the first half when Philippe Mexès’s shot from 15 yards appeared to strike the arm of John Paintsil, only for Blom to wave away their claims.

Nevland was brought on for Kamara at half-time, and was on his way back to the dressing room almost immediately for a tackle from behind on Daniele De Rossi, the Roma captain, that Blom considered worthy of a red card.

Roma tried to press home their numerical advantage, but when the pressure finally told, it was a cruel blow as Schwarzer was beaten by Bjorn Helge Riise’s attempt to block his brother’s shot.

Worse was to follow after 76 minutes when Okaka Chuka escaped Aaron Hughes to head in Rodrigo Taddei’s cross from the right despite Schwarzer’s best efforts. Konchesky’s dismissal followed a foul on Taddei born of frustration that deserved a yellow card, but no more.

“On the first half, Fulham deserved to win,” Claudio Ranieri, the Roma coach and former Chelsea manager, said. “We were lucky that the sending-off changed the game.”

Roma (4-4-1-1): Doni (sub: J Sérgio, 46min) — M Cassetti, M Andreolli, P Mexès, J A Riise — Cicinho (sub: R Taddei, 46), D Pizarro, D De Rossi, S Guberti (sub: J Menez, 65) — J Baptista — S Okaka Chuka. Substitutes not used: M Motta, S Perotta, A Cerci, M Brighi. Booked: Andreolli, Okaka Chuka, De Rossi.

Fulham (4-4-2): M Schwarzer — J Paintsil, A Hughes, B Hangeland, P Konchesky — Z Gera, J Greening, D Etuhu (sub: C Baird, 76), B H Riise (sub: R Zamora 69) — C Dempsey, D Kamara (sub: E Nevland, 46). Substitutes not used: D Stockdale, C Smalling, S Davies, J Anderson. Booked: Greening, Hangeland, Baird. Sent off: Nevland, Konchesky.

Referee: K Blom (Netherlands).