Football
2016 European Championship Qualifying, Group Stage 2016
UKR 
3
FT
 LUX
0
PA Sport 9y

Ukraine 3-0 Luxembourg

Ukraine kept the pressure on the top two with a comfortable 3-0 victory from a dominant performance against Luxembourg in their Euro 2016 qualifying Group C clash at Arena Lviv on Sunday.
The home side began to apply the pressure early on but it took three second-half goals - from Artem Kravets, Denys Garmash and Yevhen Konoplyanka - to seal all three points to extend their unbeaten run to three matches.
The result leaves Mykhaylo Fomenko's side level on points with second placed Spain, with group leaders Slovenia three points further ahead before their respective matches on Sunday evening. Luxembourg remained bottom of the standings with just one point from their six matches.
The hosts came close with the first real chance of the game early on but Taras Stepanenko headed Ruslan Rotan's corner just wide form six yards out, while Konoplyanka tested Luxembourg goalkeeper Jonathan Joubert with an easy save.
Down at the other end, Daniel da Mota hit the woodwork with a great chance as the group's basement boys tried their luck before Ukraine began to dominate the match with efforts from Vyacheslav Shevchuk and Andriy Yarmolenko going wide and Konoplyanka sending his powerful shot over the crossbar midway through the first half.
Dynamo Kiev striker Kravets was next to have a go as the home side continued to put the pressure on, but his drilled strike from the left channel was held out by Joubert and Luxembourg defender Maxime Chanot did well to block Serhiy Sydorchuk's long-range chance and then two resulting corners in quick succession from Rotan and Konoplyanka.
Joubert got his feet to a fantastic shot by Stepanenko five minutes before the break but the score remained goalless after the opening 45 minutes.
Ukraine did not take long to break the deadlock as the second half began, with Mykola Morozyuk setting up Kravets, who sent the ball bobbing over the line and into the bottom corner after 49 minutes.
They netted their second less than 10 minutes later after another short spell of pressure with Kortrijk defender Chanot initially blocking a strike from Vyacheslav Shevchuk before second-half substitute Garmash headed home from close range and left the Luxembourg defence and keeper ruing their inability to clear the ball from the penalty box.
Home stopper Andriy Pyatov did well to hold out a brilliant effort to reduce the deficit from Da Mata before Kevin Malget headed wide for Luxembourg as the match approached the hour mark.
But it was the home side that were on target with the third goal of the match when Konoplyanka fired home the 10th goal for his country from 45 appearances with his drilled close-range shot beating Joubert before finding the net with five minutes remaining to hand Ukraine maximum points.
ends

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