Soccer:Slovakia warmed up for their trip to Dublin when the Euro 2012 qualifiers resume at the start of next month with a somewhat fortuitous 2-1 win over neighbours Austria in Klagenfurt.
Even without the influential Martin Skrtel – strikers Stanislav Sestak and Robert Vittek were also missing through injury – Slovakia made most of the early running and eased into an early 2-0 lead as Juraj Kucka and Robert Jez both found the net before the interval.
There was a touch of good fortune about Kucka's opener in the 21st minute, the midfielder’s header coming back off the post before hitting the Austrian goalkeeper Christian Gratzei and rebounding over the line. Jez doubled the lead before the break but was clearly offside when played in by Filip Holosko.
The home side made a better fist of things in the second half, Erwin Hoffer clawing a goal back on the hour makr and the same player thought he had equalised just before the end, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
Russia, meanwhile, beat Serbia 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal by Pavel Pogrebnyak but lost striker Alexander Kerzhakov to an ankle injury while Andrei Arshavin was also forced from the field after a clash of heads.
Kerzhakov, one of the goal-scorers when the Russians stormed the Aviva Stadium late last year, needed treatment following a tackle by Nemanja Vidic in the 25th minute and was unable to continue. Arshavin suffered a cut over his eye.
Pogrebnyak, who replaced the Kerzhakov midway through the first half, side-footed into an empty net in the 53rd minute after Serbia goalkeeper Bojan Jorgacevic failed to deal with a long-range effort by Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, who replaced Arshavin, wasted a great chance midway through the second half when he fired straight at Jorgacevic from 15 yards. Russia, level on points with Ireland and Slovakia at the top of Group B, meet Macedonia on September 2nd before Trapattoni’s side visit the Russian capital four days later.
Elsewhere, Armenia suffered a 3-0 reverse in Lithuania but Macedonia enjoyed a 1-0 win against Azerbaijan thanks to Goran Pandev's second-half strike.
