Czechs condemn Ukraine to four in a row

The Czech Republic scored two early goals in each half to condemn Ukraine to a fourth straight defeat.

Having lost their three previous friendly fixtures – against France, Sweden and Uruguay – the UEFA EURO 2012 co-hosts suffered the least desirable of starts. Michal Kadlec, scorer of the Czechs' last-minute equaliser against Scotland on Saturday, struck twice inside the opening 12 minutes in Prague. Jan Rezek and Daniel Kolář then added a goal apiece within six minutes of the restart.

Kadlec had registered with a penalty at Hampden Park and he picked up from where he left off with another thumping spot kick after Rezek had been felled by Vyacheslav Shevchuk. Still reeling from conceding the early opener, Ukraine found themselves two down when Kadlec headed Jaroslav Plašil's corner into the net.

The visitors tried to establish a foothold in the game and though they managed to muster individual efforts from Yevhen Konoplyanka, Andriy Yarmolenko and Marko Dević, none of them troubled Czech goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobný excessively.

Two minutes into the second half his fine work was rewarded, Rezek breaking through the centre and finishing perfectly into the corner. Oleh Blokhin's team's night went from bad to worse only four minutes later when Václav Pilař raced down the left and passed to Kolář, who controlled, steadied himself and fired into the net.

Dević, Yarmolenko and debutant Anton Shynder all passed up opportunities for Ukraine thereafter to leave Blokhin's side with a record of 12 goals conceded and only three scored in their four most recent matches.