Greece assured of play-off place

Greece beat the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to secure top spot in Group 9 and a place in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-offs.

England's 1-0 win against Portugal on Friday night put them to within two points of the section leaders, but Stuart Pearce's side are now five adrift with just the visit of Lithuania to come on Tuesday. Greece completed their fixtures in Strumica, Anastasios Papazoglou earning them all three points after Daniel Georgievski had cancelled out Dimitrios Siovas's earlier effort.

It was superb opener from the defender, whose 39th-minute header from a Dimitrios Giantsis corner left Kristijan Naumovski with no chance.  FYROM, though, did not go quietly as they continued to seek their first win of the campaign and drew level on 64 minutes when Georgievski finished off Filip Petrov's fine approach play. It was to be Greece's day, however, Papazoglou heading Georgios Ioannidis's free-kick past Naumovski with ten minutes remaining.