Sauerer leaves it late

Austria are in a superb position to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship after beating neighbours Hungary 1-0 in their opening Group A game this evening in Nelas.

Tight game
In a tight game of few opportunities Christoph Sauerer's 78th-minute goal was enough to seperate the two sides and send Austria into Friday's game against hosts Portugal, 3-2 winners against Denmark this afternoon, in great heart. Meanwhile the Hungarians know that defeat against the Danes on Friday will spell their fifth consecutive group stage elimination in the finals of this tournament.

Draw looked likely
For the majority of this evening's game a goalless draw looked the likely result, with both sides' hard-working midfields cancelling out each others' best efforts to construct attacking play.

Game explodes
In the final six minutes the game exploded into life. Firstly, in the 74th minute, Hungary mounted a superb counterattack, Laszlo Hegyesi picking out Tamás Kecskés, only for the latter to shoot wide.

Austria pounce
It proved a costly miss as four minutes later Austria pounced. Sascha Pichler's corner was headed into the net at the far post by Sauerer and the celebrations began for Ernst Weber and his side.