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Belarus vs Slovakia. European Championship Qualifying Group C.

Dinamo StadionAttendance4,500.

Belarus 1

  • T Kalachev (79th minute)

Slovakia 3

  • M Hamsik (65th minute, 84th minute)
  • S Sestak (91st minute)

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European Qualifiers: Slovakia skipper Marek Hamsik bags a brace to beat Belarus 3-1

Slovakia's Juraj Kucka fights for the ball with Belarus' Stanislav Dragun
Image: Juraj Kucka (l): Fights for the ball with Belarus' Dragun

Captain Marek Hamsik scored two goals as Slovakia registered their second win in four days with a 3-1 Euro 2016 qualifying victory over Belarus at the Borisov Arena.

Jan Kozak's men claimed a shock 2-1 triumph over Spain on Thursday and maintained their 100 per cent record to stay top Group C, while their opponents remained winless with just one point.

After an uninspiring first half, Hamsik broke the deadlock 20 minutes after the break before Timofey Kalachev struck back for the home side, but Hamsik's second and a late third from Stanislav Sestak sealed the victory.

The hosts started well and could have taken an early lead with Igor Shitov forcing Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik into making a save five minutes in.

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Marek Hamsik bagged a brace for Slovakia in their 3-1 win over Belarus, but his second was on target after a strong shot rebounded off the post

Moments later the visitors passed up two great chances to take the lead. First Lokomotiv Moscow defender Jan Durica saw his long-range effort from the left wing tipped around the post by Yuri Zhevnov, and then the resulting corer from Vladimir Weiss found the head of Adam Nemec in the middle of the box, but the Belarus goalkeeper was once again in the right place.

Belarus hit back with a chance from Kalachev six minutes later and then, midway through the first half, the away side went close again with efforts from Hamsik and Robert Mak but could not break the deadlock.

Egor Filipenko fired a long-range strike wide for the hosts and Dmitry Verkhovtsov was unfortunate to send his close-range header over the crossbar as the half drew to a close.

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The visitors began to dominate from the start of the second half and Hamsik almost put them ahead but Zhevnov kept out his effort from the edge of the penalty box. Nemec also lashed wide.

Slovakia were rewarded when they took the lead after 65 minutes, however, as Napoli midfielder Hamsik collected Weiss' cross from the edge of the area and tapped home.

The goal sparked the home side into life and they began to search for an equaliser, which arrived with 10 minutes from time. Stanislav Dragun picked out Kalachev, who powered the ball home from six yards.

But the visitors were not done yet. Skipper Hamsik netted his second goal when he capitalised on Miroslav Stoch's rebound off the post with five minutes to go, and Sestak sealed the points at the death when he latched onto Kozacik's pass and put the game out of reach.

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