Vandenbergh verve undoes Ukraine

A Kevin Vandenbergh hat-trick ensured Belgium prevailed in the first leg of their UEFA European Under-21 Championship playoff against Ukraine with a hard-earned 3-2 victory.

Vandenbergh treble
Ukraine had come back twice to cancel out Vandenbergh's first two goals of the evening, Adrian Pukanych and Olexandr Aliyev both equalising, but the home side had no answer to the KRC Genk striker's third effort early in the second period. The forward's third goal gave his side a slender lead to take back to Lokeren for Wednesday's return tie.

Belgium opener
Vandenbergh came close to scoring as early as the 13th minute as he put a free header wide, but made amends six minutes later. Faris Haroun's shot from the corner of the Ukrainian penalty area struck the far post, and Vandenbergh was on hand to tuck away the rebound.

Rapid response
Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko's side were level soon after, however, when FC Illychivets Mariupil midfielder Pukanych picked up possession inside the area before striking the ball high into the net after 27 minutes. Yet Belgium regained the lead before the interval as Vandenbergh broke down the left in first-half added time before beating goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov with a fine shot.

Aliyev strikes
Mykhaylychenko's half-time team talk appeared to galvanise his charges when Ukraine levelled for a second time four minutes after the restart. Aliyev intercepted the ball in midfield, before evading the challenges of two Belgian defenders to shoot into the net from 25 metres.

Hat-trick completed
The game was being played at a frantic pace, and Aliyev came close to scoring again shortly afterwards but his free-kick narrowly failed to find the net. Instead it was the Belgians who took the first-leg honours just before the hour when Haroun squared the ball to Vandenbergh at the far post to convert his third and put his side in command of the tie.