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Armenia beat FYROM to keep dream alive
Published: Friday 7 October 2011, 19.10CET
Armenia 4-1 FYROM
Vardan Minasyan's rank outsiders will play for a top-two finish in Dublin on Tuesday after making light work of their visitors in Yerevan
Armenia will play the Republic of Ireland for a top-two finish in UEFA EURO 2012 Group B on Tuesday after a confident victory against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Yerevan.
Marcos Pizzelli and Henrik Mkhitaryan thrust Vardan Minasyan's side into a two-goal lead before the break, and following FYROM captain Velice Sumulikoski's dismissal eight minutes into the second half for a second booking, Gevorg Ghazaryan made it 3-0, with Artur Sarkisov cancelling out Vance Sikov's goal for the visitors in added time.
Initially nervous as they sought the win they needed to keep their qualifying hopes alive, Armenia soon warmed to their task; Yura Movsisyan hit the post after nine minutes, though Filipp Ivanovski passed up a presentable chance at the other end. The breakthrough came on 28 minutes, Movsisyan beating three men before laying the ball off for Pizzelli to finish from inside the box.
Mkhitaryan then produced a splendid left-footed effort from 20 metres out to make it 2-0, but FYROM did not give up, and might have reduced the arrears significantly before the break; Ivan Trickovski hit one over the bar from a decent position and Armenia goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky had to have his wits about him to field Nikolce Noveski's shot from distance.
Mkhitaryan and Ivanovski had decent opportunities at either end after the interval, but Sumulikoski's red card tilted the tie further in the home side's favour. It took a splendid Martin Bogatinov save to deny FC Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Mkhitaryan his second of the night a few minutes later, but he could do nothing about Ghazaryan's low shot into the corner on 69 minutes after Movsisyan picked him out.
Sikov's header from Vlade Lazarevski's corner gave FYROM some consolation, but – for the second game in a row – Sarkisov scored Armenia's fourth goal, with man of the match Movsisyan once more the provider.
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