Estonia leave it late to see off Lithuania

• Estonia up to third in Group E after edging out Lithuania
• Konstantin Vassiljev scores a 71st-minute winner in Tallinn
• Baltic neighbours Lithuania stay fourth in section
  
• Deimantas Petravičius misses late chance for Lithuania
• Next games: Slovenia v Estonia, Lithuania v San Marino (8 September)

Estonia maintained their outside hopes in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group E as a late Konstantin Vassiljev strike saw off Lithuania at the A. Le Coq Arena.

Magnus Pehrsson's hosts, who knew they could temporarily move above Slovenia into third place with a win, made a typically raucous start, hurrying the likes of Linas Klimavičius and Marius Žaliukas into early errors.

Joel Lindpere then galloped down the left on the half-hour, before turning inside Klimavičius and finding skipper Ragnar Klavan in space. The 29-year-old, however, could not keep his headed effort on target.

The visitors emerged brightly after the interval and could have broken the deadlock as Deivydas Matulevičius capitalised on goalkeeper Mihkel Aksalu dropping the ball but defender Žaliukas cleared off the line seconds later.

Estonia had pre-match aspirations to re-emerge as a force in the race for qualification, with their final match of the campaign falling against the Swiss on 12 October, yet they were being left increasingly frustrated by Igoris Pankratjevas's stubborn side.

Their efforts were finally rewarded, much to Pehrsson's relief, after 71 minutes when Sergei Zenjov scampered past Egidijus Vaitkūnas before allowing Vassiljev to ghost through, taking the ball with him, and rifling his team in front.

Deimantas Petravičius was nearly able to haul Lithuania back into it with ten minutes remaining as Arvydas Novikovas's free-kick fell kindly to him but Zenjov was on hand to block at his near post.

The buoyant home crowd greeted the full-time whistle with delight as the Sinisärgid kept themselves in with a fighting chance of reaching UEFA EURO 2016 next summer.