Armenia beat Andorra to maintain fine start
Saturday, September 3, 2011
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Andorra 0-1 Armenia
Valter Poghosyan struck five minutes from time to put the visitors three points clear at the top of Group 3 with their second straight win.
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Armenia continued their excellent start to qualifying for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with a 1-0 win against Andorra.
Having opened their campaign with a 4-1 win against Montenegro in June, Armenia looked likely to have to settle for a point in Andorra la Vella. However, they secured all three just five minutes from time thanks to Valter Poghosyan's second goal in as many games. Rafael Nazaryan's side can pull even further clear at the summit with victory against the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
The visitors so nearly took the lead far earlier on Saturday, Hovhannes Hambardzumyan hitting a post from 20 metres midway through the first half. The hosts spurned the next best opening soon after, though, Joseph Vall failing to convert with just goalkeeper Karen Israelyan to beat.
Armenia resumed control after the interval but could not find a breakthrough, Poghosyan, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and substitute Gevorg Badalyan all going close to beating Oriol Oliva. They finally found a way through when Poghosyan collected Edgar Malakyan's pass, rounded Oliva and found the target.
