Montenegro burst Kazakshtan's bubble

The home side's unbeaten start to UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying came to an abrupt end with Stevan Jovetić and Slobodan Lakičević the scorers.

Damage done
Kazakhstan had picked up four points from their opening two Group 6 games, but Montenegro were not in any way overawed, taking the lead after 17 minutes as ACF Fiorentina forward Jovetić found the target following good work from Fatos Bećiraj. Home coach Sergey Gorokhovodatsky tried to change things at the break, with Sergey Khinzhichenko and Ulan Konysbayev coming on, but the visitors quickly doubled their advantage, Lakičević surprising Andrey Zaporochshenko with a fine free-kick. Kazakhstan had chances thereafter, but the damage was done.

Lucky breaks
"Kazakhstan did not have two of the players who helped them to beat Bulgaria [Sabyrkhan Ibrayev and Vyacheslav Erbes], while we were lucky to have Jovetić as he was unable to play for the senior side through suspension," said Montenegro coach Dušan Vlaisavljević. Gorokhovodatsky added: "Our task was complicated with the absence of our leaders, especially Erbes, who was called up to the senior team. I was keen to keep him in the U21 team and asked about that after our victory against Bulgaria, but they did not give him to me."