Slovakia surge into Elite round

Slovakia swept into the UEFA European Under-19 Championship Elite round by recording victories in all three qualifying round Group 10 fixtures to win the section by five points from Cyprus, who held off the challenge of 2006 final tournament hosts Austria to claim the runners-up berth.

Emphatic victory
The eventual top two met in Geroskipou in the first round of matches, Robert Ujcik's early strikes giving Slovakia a 2-0 advantage by the 17th minute. Although Christos Xenofontos pulled a goal back for the mini-tournament hosts in the 28th minute, Miroslav Stoch restored the two-goal cushion in the 64th minute and further goals from Ujcik and Stoch ensured an impressive opening success for Slovakia. In Paphos, meanwhile, Guido Burgstaller scored the only goal for Austria against Northern Ireland two minutes into added time.

Dramatic turnaround
Slovakia picked up where they had left off in their second fixture, Stoch's penalty providing a 29th-minute lead against Northern Ireland in Paphos. Substitute Frantisek Kubik made it 2-0 in the 79th minute but was sent off three minutes later along with Northern Ireland's Ryan McGivern, and Brewster Frizzel's late goal was little consolation as Slovakia held on for the win. Cyprus mounted a sterling late comeback to revive their challenge, which looked to be fading fast when Benjamin Pranter put Austria in front in the 72nd minute but two penalties from Georgios Efrem, the first in the 86th minute and the second five minutes later, turned the match around, although the Cyprus matchwinner was also sent off in the final seconds.

Perfect record
Bohumil Andrejko's Slovakia side made sure of first place in the section by concluding their campaign with a 2-0 victory against Austria in Geroskipou, Stoch and substitute Martin Boszorad scoring at the start and end of the second period to make it three wins from three. Cyprus therefore clinched second place despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Northern Ireland, who took a 14th-minute lead through Andrew Little only for Stamatis Pantos to give the hosts a point with an equaliser 13 minutes from time.