Croatia draw comfort in Bihac

Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-1 Croatia
Croatia continued their preparations for this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals by grinding out a 1-1 draw in a friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina tonight.

On the back foot
Martin Novoselac's side were on the back foot from the kick-off in Bihac, with the home side creating the better chances in the first period. However, Croatian goalkeeper Tomislav Vranjic kept the scoresheet blank, blocking efforts from Albin Pelak, Alen Skoro and Miroslav Jevtic in the first 45 minutes.

Abramovic advantage
Against the run of play, it was Croatia who struck first ten minutes into the second half, Mario Carevic creating a chance for Domagoj Abramovic to open the scoring at the second attempt.

Significant absentees
However, Croatia – without Niko Kranjcar, Ante Tomic, Mile Bozic through injury and Marko Babic and Dario Srna, who are with the senior squad for tomorrow's match against Turkey – were pegged back 14 minutes from time, Adnan Sarajlic's header earning Bosnia-Herzegovina a draw.

'Can do better'
"It was not a good game," Novoselac admitted. "It was decisive for some players, and logically some of them will be ruled out. We missed Kranjcar and Babic a lot, but this team also can do much more and play much better."