Roman Pavlyuchenko
Roman Pavlyuchenko scored a hat-trick as Russia moved top of Group B in the Euro 2012 qualifiers with a 3-1 home win over Armenia at St Petersburg’s Petrovski Stadion.
The Russians began the day in second place but level on points with Slovakia and the Republic of Ireland. They now lead the group, for a few hours at least. Giovanni Trapattoni’s men take on Macedonia in Skopje at 8.30pm, while the Slovaks, who were first this morning, host Andorra in Bratislava at 7.45pm.
Pinheiro Pizelli gave Armenia a shock lead in the 25th minute but Russia struck back immediately through Pavlyuchenko.
It remained 1-1 until the 59th minute when the Spurs striker finished calmly with a back post volley and he wrapped up the points from the spot 17 minutes from time.
Slovakia are expected to deal comfortably with Andorra and rejoin Russia at the top of the table but Ireland’s task is far from straight forward in Skopje, where two previous results, in April 1997 and October 1999, have proved very costly.
On the first occasion, Ireland lost 3-2, and went on to miss out on the 1998 World Cup after a play-off defeat to Belgium.
In 1999, a 1-1 draw in the Euro 2000 qualifiers came courtesy of a 93rd minute Goran Stavrevski header. Again, it left Ireland second in their group and another play-off defeat, this time to Turkey, was the result.
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