UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS - Hammarby wasted no time canceling a second half FC Utrecht opener, then hung on to earn a 1-1 Intertoto Cup away leg draw to move into the UEFA Cup draw on Sunday afternoon.

Robin Nelisse scored a fortuitous icebreaker midway through the second stanza, but the lead lasted only seconds before David Johansson poked home a flicked-on corner serve at the far post.

American striker Charlie Davies hopped out of his sick bed to work the final 10 minutes and stoppage time, long enough to be robbed of a late dagger and pick up a yellow card.

The home side came out with a mild bit of initiative, easily matching the sparse Galgenwaard faithful, who were out-shouted by their Bajen guests for most of the afternoon.

Nelisse would be central to most of Utrecht's finer moves, and he did not stand on ceremony. The dreadlocked forward just missed a low Tim Cornelisse cross on the stretch after three minutes, failed to smoothly take down a Rick Kruijs lob entry feed after five and fired straight at HIF keeper Benny Lekström from a sharp angle in the seventh.

The visitors had their first clean look at goal in the 12th minute, but Paulinho Guara was not able to get a leaping side-kick try on goal.

Two minutes later, Utrecht should have gone on top when Hammarby defender Jose Monteiro whiffed on a clearance near his area, but hesitation from Giuseppe Rossini infected the attack. The Italian striker happened upon the lucky find with room to fire, but instead squared meekly to Nelisse, who put his shot into Lekström's chest.

Monteiro made amends seconds later by shielding a Rossini knockdown from Hans Somers, and the sequence eventually ended with Tom Caluwé's floating shot grabbed by Lekström.

With Utrecht gaining steam, the locals who bothered to attend finally came into voice, but it seemed to inspire Hammarby instead.

Guadeloupe Gold Cup hero Franck Grandel went high to corral a cross from influential HIF midfielder Erkan Zengin in the 17th minute.

Midway through the half, Lekström fumbled a cross a Caluwé cross, but recovered to smother before the lurking Nelisse could pounce.

Petter Andersson used some fancy moves to work his way to the area from the right channel, yet lost the ball trying to find his own shot with Haris Laitinen wide open and waving on the left side of the box.

Cool customer Zengin began taking hold of the midfield and had to be stripped of his dribble into the area by Sander Keller at the half hour. Hammarby regrouped, however, with Andersson firing straight to Grandel.

Andersson got more involved, and Cornelisse had to break up a neat combo with Laitinen. After an ambitious reverse shot failed to trouble Grandel, the #9 shirt then forced Keller to clear a danger cross out for a corner. The resulting serve fell to Zengin, who was unable to beat the Utrecht keeper with consecutive efforts from the right channel.

Paulinho was nearly able to waltz in on Grandel after running down a 37th minute Johannsson long ball on the right flank, but Keller once again proved a tough obstacle.

Cornelisse relieved pressure by working his way up the Utrecht right side to pick out Rossini, who bounced his header directly to Lekström.

Hammarby quickly returned to attack, with Andersson leading Paulinho into the area on the right. The Brazilian rifled on target from his first touch, forcing Grandel to tip over acrobatically. The visitors had a pair of corners to close the period, but each flew over everyone.

With the tie still scoreless after 270 minutes, each side made an alteration at the break. Hammarby brought Joakim Jensen into the middle of defense, sliding Monteiro to the wing, while Willem van Hanagem sent Leroy George on for Somers too add some thrust to the offense.

Paulinho quickly raided the Utrecht area from the left, with solid performer Francis Dickoh coolly picking pocket as he wound up to shoot.

After Grandel required a moment to collect himself after a goalmouth collision, Keller helped his keeper by tying up Paulinho on his way to a Zengin cross.

In the 54th minute, George showed good wheels to run the left, but his cross fell behind Rossini. Hammarby responded with Monteiro's long ball finding Paulinho racing down the right wing, only to have the Brazilian whistle wide of the far post.

Nelisse found some space at the top of the key as the hour turned, but Christian Traoré alertly slid over to block his blast. At the other end, Andersson dribbled through Keller, and Dickoh had to come over to clean the mess before the HIF striker could load up.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Utrecht went ahead on a cool Nelisse finish in the 65th minute. Sebastian Eguren played an ill-advised and poorly struck long back pass for his keeper, but it was easy pickings for Nelisse, who calmly slotted the gift chance past the stranded Lekström.

The home celebrations were still echoing around the yard when Hammarby pulled level for the day with the fatal away goal. Would be goat Eguren flicked a Lovay Chanko corner kick to the far post, where Johansson snuck in to tap home.

Three minutes later, the Utrecht task became taller when Keller was shown red for a high chop to the mouth of Monteiro. The swing came at the end of a corner kick sequence that saw Kruijs' shot from 20 meters blocked away, and the hosts displayed their frustration in a slight shoving match that concluded with them at 10 men.

Utrecht inserted Bob Pieters in Keller's place, and went about seeking the goal that could flip the aggregate result. Nelisse slipped past Monteiro in the 76th minute, but pulled his drive wide.

Davies entered for the tiring Paulinho in the 80th minute, and fought through his fever to make a quick impression. After a steal in his end and subsequent 50-meter scamper down the flank to set up possession, the former BC Eagle nearly applied the dagger in the 83rd minute.

Laitinen was afforded far too much space up the gut and his calmly unleashed effort troubled Grandel into a diving save. Davies raced to reach the rebound ahead of Dickoh, but the Red White Army backstop was quick to recover, sprawling at the American's feet to paw away.

A minute later, Caluwé nearly served up the entree the half-filled Galgenwaard was dreaming of; the Belgian collected a weak Chanko clearance and scooped in a shot that Lekström did well to tip over.

Davies found his way into the referee’s book with five minutes left for a poorly timed and unnecessary swipe at Pieters in the Utrecht end.

The final two minutes of regulation were a blur of corner kicks for the desperate hosts. Lekström's weak punch of the third consecutive 89th minute restart fell to Caluwé, who was left to an ignored shout for hands after Sebastian Castro-Tello cleared away cleanly.

Hammarby were able to clear another pair of corner kicks, and whittled away six minutes of added time to punch their UEFA Cup ticket.

"It's amazing," Davies told American Soccer Daily after the whistle. "It was an exciting game. We had so many chances, and to finally get the goal is special."

The rookie says the coach simply told him to keep his weary legs moving best he could. "I hadn't really eaten or slept in two or three days," admitted Davies, who is still battling flu symptoms that started when he returned from Copa America duty. "He knew I didn't have that much energy, but told me to get in there and keep running to see if I could create something."

On his way out of Galgenwaard, Davies cracked a smile at the thought of getting home to his pillow with a UEFA Cup bid in pocket. "Now, I just want to sleep," laughed the forward.

Scoring
FCU - Robin Nelisse 65'
HIF - David Johansson (Sebastian Eguren) 66'

Line-ups
FCU - Franck Grandel; Tim Cornelisse, Francis Dickoh, Sander Keller, Etienne Shew-Atjon (Erik Pieters 69'), Gregoor van Dijk, Rick Kruijs (Kees van Buuren 84'), Tom Caluwé, Hans Somers (Leroy George 46'), Giuseppe Rossini, Robin Nelisse

HIF - Benny Lekström; David Johansson, Jose Monteiro, Christian Traoré, Ljunnar Tkor Gunnarsson (Joakim Jensen 46'), Lovay Chanko, Sebastian Eguren, Erkan Zengin (Sebastian Castro-Tello 85'), Harris Laitinen, Petter Andersson, Paulinho Guara (Charlie Davies 80')