Wales hopes dealt a blow in Belgrade

A Dragan Mladenovic goal in the 73rd minute gave Serbia and Montenegro a lifeline win over Wales in their European Championship…

A Dragan Mladenovic goal in the 73rd minute gave Serbia and Montenegro a lifeline win over Wales in their European Championship Group Nine qualifier tonight.

Mladenovic latched onto a well taken corner kick and blasted the ball home after a goalmouth scramble to delight the 30,000-strong home crowd.

The result means that Serbia and Montenegro still have a chance to qualify for next year's finals in Portugal if they win their remaining two matches - a home tie against Italy on September 10th and the reverse fixture against the Welsh in Cardiff.

The home team dominated proceedings and should have won by a bigger margin but missed several good chances.

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Wales missed their best chance to steal a draw when second half substitute Robert Earnshaw saw his shot cleared off the line by Mladen Krstajic.

Wales still top the group on 12 points, two clear of Italy but with one match more played. They face the Italians on September 6th away and then tackle Finland at home four days later.

Serbia and Montenegro now have eight points.