FYROM and Armenia share spoils and late drama
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
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FYROM 2-2 Armenia
Edgar Manucharyan's added-time goal looked to have given the visitors victory but there was still time for an even later twist in the tale.
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Armenia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia both opened their accounts in Group B of UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying with a 2-2 draw in Skopje.
Beaten 1-0 by the Republic of Ireland and Slovakia respectively on Friday, neither side held sway for long in their second fixtures of the campaign. Yura Movsisyan gave Armenia the lead four minutes from half-time but Mario Gjurovski struck back barely 60 seconds later. It stayed level until the first minute of added time when Edgar Manucharyan seemed to have won it for the visitors, only for Ilco Naumoski to score from the penalty spot to ensure the spoils were shared.
It could have been different for FYROM had Stevica Ristic's 25th-minute free-kick not struck the bar, but they found themselves behind when Movsisyan exploited confusion in Vlatko Kostov's defence and finished adroitly. Not for the last time, though, the home side swiftly bounced back, Gjurovski firing past Roman Berezovsky after a fine pass from captain Goran Pandev.
The equaliser galvanised FYROM but, having spurned a handful of openings, they found themselves on the back foot once more in the closing 15 minutes. Such profligacy looked to have cost them even a point when Manucharyan's counterattacking goal gave Armenia the lead but, six minutes into added time, Naumoski kept his cool.