FYR Macedonia sunk as Sydorchuk spurs Ukraine

• Serhiy Sydorchuk scores only goal of game to secure Ukraine win
• Andriy Yarmolenko misses second-half penalty for hosts
• FYR Macedonia lose for second time in Group C
• Mykhailo Fomenko's men make it two wins in four days 
• Next games: Luxembourg v Ukraine, FYR Macedonia v Slovakia (15 November)

Andriy Yarmolenko missed a penalty for Ukraine but Serhiy Sydorchuk's goal proved sufficient to seal the Group C points against FYR Macedonia.

Following their victory in Belarus on matchday two, the hosts came out full of attacking intent, with Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka providing incision on the flanks. The latter looked to have gifted Yarmolenko an opener with a low cross, yet an outstanding tackle from Egzijan Alilovski took it off the toe of the No7.

Konoplyanka blasted over from just outside the box, and Yarmolenko's header was equally wayward, but it was not all one way traffic as Besart Abdurahimi ran the show at the other end. The FYR Macedonia No19 had an effort tipped over by Andriy Pyatov before setting up Arijan Ademi to drive wide. The visitors' best chance, however, came when forward Adis Jahović dragged down a lofted ball into the area – only for a strong hand from Pyatov to keep out his shot.

The breakthrough eventually came on the stroke of half-time as Konoplyanka's cross deflected into the path of Sydorchuk, who hammered low into the net from eight metres. And it could have been even better for the hosts two minutes after the restart, when Yarmolenko crashed his penalty against the crossbar after Aleksandar Damchevski had brought down Roman Zozulya.

The FC Dynamo Kyiv man soon looked to make amends with a volleyed effort that was saved, before Konoplyanka headed an Artem Fedetskiy cross just wide. Nevertheless, FYR Macedonia never allowed the home side to feel safe, with Aleksandar Trajkovski forcing Pyatov to tip over a free-kick, but Mykhailo Fomenko's men survived a late onslaught of corners to take a second successive win.