Serhiy Nazarenko scored a brace to help Ukraine come from behind to beat Kazakhstan and boost their World Cup Group 6 qualifying hopes.
Ukraine keep up pressure on Croatia
Serhiy Nazarenko scored a brace to help Ukraine come from behind to beat Kazakhstan on Wednesday and boost their World Cup Group 6 qualifying hopes.
The home side, missing captain Andriy Shevchenko and centre-back Oleksandr Kucher after a 2-2 draw with Croatia on Saturday, laboured through the heat to claim a 2-1 win.
Tanat Nusrbayev opened the scoring with a header on 19 minutes in Kiev before Nazarenko curled in a free-kick for the hosts 14 minutes later.
He then scored the winner two minutes after the restart - driving the ball between the goalkeeper's legs - to give Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko's side a priceless three points in their qualifying campaign.
The win moves Ukraine into third position in the table level on points with Croatia.
No pressure
A relieved Mikhaylichenko said: "There was no pressure on Kazakhstan and you could see they were at ease.
"We created lots of chances in attack but in many moments we lacked luck and sharpness to extend our lead."
But his side almost blew victory with a loss of concentration in defence that led to Yevgeniy Averchenko going close seven minutes from time.
"We were extremely bad at the back because our players did not recover after a difficult match in Zagreb on Saturday," added Mikhaylichenko.
"It was also very difficult to keep high pace playing in such hot weather.
"To tell the truth today I could not recognise some players of my team. It is a good lesson for us - we need to learn how to handle small teams that are happy to get a draw."
