Bosnia and Herzegovina kept up the pace at the top of FIFA World Cup qualifying Group G with a confident success against Lithuania in Zenica.

Three goals in the space of 13 first-half minutes proved to be the visitors' undoing, with a powerful Vedad Ibišević effort, a 26th international strike from Edin Džeko and a close-range finish for Miralem Pjanić  – the last being just reward for Pjanić having set up his team's first two goals.

An early scare saw Valdemar Borovskij round Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begović, but Ognjen Vranješ rescued his side. It was a miss that Lithuania were soon to regret. Zvjezdan Misimović fired one effort over before Pjanić supplied the ammunition for Ibišević to drill in the hosts' first from inside the box on 28 minutes.

The same two players combined shortly afterwards, but while Lithuania goalkeeper Žydrunas Karčemarskas was alive to the danger, he could do nothing to prevent Džeko getting on the end of another Pjanić delivery on 35 minutes. The assist-provider was rewarded for his efforts as he finished off a move involving Vranješ, Senad Lulić and Džeko with a shot from five metres.

Safet Sušić's charges top the table, and will look to put clear water between themselves and second-ranked Greece when the countries meet in Zenica in March.