Croatia ease to second victory

Croatia made it two wins out of two in UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite round Group 1 with a comfortable defeat of Montenegro.

Filip Ozobić fired the mini-tournament hosts in front with a 34th-minute free-kick after Stefan Mugoša fouled Andrej Kramarić. It would have been all square at the break had Petar Jovović not fluffed his lines with only Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Picak to beat, a miss they were to rue as the game entered its closing stages. With six minutes remaining, after Ante Vukušić's header had earlier been repelled by Montenegro No1 Jasmin Agović, Mario Tičinović made sure of the points when he was picked out in the penalty area by Tomislav Glumac.

Anton Maglica, who had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes, headed in a third in added time, much to the delight of the 300-strong crowd in Karlovac. Croatia are top of the section, three points clear of Belgium and Scotland, and will qualify for July's final tournament in France by taking a point from Monday's fixture against Scotland.

Maglica said: "We have a chance to be in the European Championship for the first time in ten years so we will be very motivated against Scotland on Monday. We played great but the first goal by Ozobić, the free-kick, was crucial. We were nervous until that point."