Ten-man Armenia stun Belarus

Ara Hakobyan scored his second goal of the tournament to lead Armenia to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Belarus yesterday.

The meeting between the two teams who won their opening match on Saturday, was a nervy affair but Armenia, who finished the game with 10 men, had the last laugh thanks to substitute Hakobyan whose late strike sent his team top of the table with six points from two matches.

Belarus had opened the scoring as early as the fifth minute, Viachaslav Hleb, the brother of Arsenal stalwart Aleksandr Hleb, driving the ball home after profiting from a mistake by Armenia goalkeeper Mayis Azizyan.

Another dangerous attack by Belarus almost yielded a second goal on 16 minutes as Vitaly Bulyga advanced down the right before sending in a low far-post cross where Raman Vasiliuk's sliding effort came off the woodwork.

Belarus paid dearly for this miss as Armenia drew level on 18 minutes thanks to a header by Ararat Arakelyan.

The game remained balanced after the change of ends but 13 minutes into the second half, Armenia should have moved ahead.

Hakobyan, who hit Armenia's winner against Malta, drifted into the box before setting up Samuel Melkonyan whose first-time volley from routine distance sailed well over the bar.

Only a tipping save from Belarus goalkeeper Aliaksandr Liantsevich from a fierce strike by substitute Karen Aleksanyan denied the improving Armenians a second goal with 14 minutes remaining. However, from the ensuing corner, taken by Aghvan Mkrtchyan, Hakobyan slipped past an opponent before rolling the ball home.

Four minutes from time, Armenia were reduced to ten men after defender Alexander Tadeosyan was sent off by referee Anton Zammit for a second booking but Jan Poulsen's men held on to move closer to winning the tournament.