Ukraine rally to swat Luxembourg aside

• Daniel Da Mota hits post after ten minutes for Luxembourg
• Nine corners, ten shots and no goals in the first half for Ukraine
• Artem Kravets deflects in Ukraine's opener; substitute Denys Garmash heads in second
• Yevhen Konoplyanka hits late third as Ukraine move on to 12 points
• Next qualifiers: Ukraine v Belarus, Luxembourg v FYR Macedonia (5 September)

Ukraine maintained their push for a UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying place as a trio of second-half goals put an end to Luxembourg's resistance in Group C.

Mykhailo Fomenko's side had pummelled their guests without reward until Artem Kravets chested in – more by luck than judgement – four minutes after the restart. Denys Garmash then nodded Vyacheslav Shevchuk's headed pass beyond Jonathan Joubert to finally put the tie beyond Luc Holtz's side, who had hit the post early in the first half, before Yevhen Konoplyanka's late strike put some gloss on the scoreline.

Taras Stepanenko set an unfortunate precedent for Ukraine with a near-post header from a corner which flashed wide after seven minutes. The home side utterly dominated, with nine corners and ten shots before the interval, but crucially no goals. It might have been worse, though; on ten minutes, Luxembourg made an unexpected burst forward, Daniel Da Mota skipping past the last defender before beating Andriy Pyatov with a low shot which thumped into the base of the post.

Fortune ultimately favoured Ukraine after the break too. Mykola Morozyuk's ball on 49 minutes cleared its intended target, but it cannoned into the net off the chest of the unsighted Kravets to give the hosts their breakthrough. Their second was not a classic either. Shevchuk's shot was deflected back at him off a Luxembourg defender, and he was able to loop the ball across for Garmash to head past Joubert.

Konoplyanka then scored a third late on, a slack ball in defence inviting the FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk man to fire a low shot inside Joubert's right-hand post.