Nuhiu fires Austria to Group 10 summit

Atdhe Nuhiu's hat-trick gave Austria a 4-0 victory over ten-man Azerbaijan that sees them leapfrog Belarus and Scotland to the Group 10 summit.

Unbeaten in five
Since losing their opening qualifier, Austria have won four and drawn one to go a point clear at the top of the section having played a game more than their two nearest rivals. They assumed such a position with consummate ease in Wiener Neudorf, SV Ried striker Nuhiu heading them in front after ten minutes. That lead was doubled only ten minutes later when Nihiu profited from Alexander Grünwald's run and finished past Elchin Sodigov.

Sodigov dismissal
Sodigov's day took another turn for the worse eleven minutes from half-time when he was dismissed for handling outside his penalty area. With no replacement goalkeeper on the bench, Vurgon Huseynov took the gloves and remained unbreached until the 79th minute, when Nihiu headed in his third. Substitute Andreas Weimann completed the scoring with eleven minutes to play to leave Andreas Herzog's side well placed ahead of their next fixture, at home to Belarus next August.