Henrik Mkhitaryan secured a sensational 3-1 win for Armenia Euro 2012 qualifier

Second-half goals from Gevorg Ghazaryan and Henrik Mkhitaryan secured a sensational 3-1 win for Armenia against Slovakia in Yerevan.

The visitors had begun the day as joint-leaders of Group B following last month's win in Russia but they fell behind to Yura Movsisyan's 23rd-minute opener. Although Vladimír Weiss equalised before the break, Ghazaryan restored the hosts' lead soon after and Mkhitaryan then secured their first win of UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying in the closing moments.

Vardan Minasyan's team made the early running though the first clear scoring chance fell to Slovakia. Miroslav Stoch won a free-kick near the byline and from his cross Martin Škrtel won the aerial duel with goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky but headed just wide.

Armenia's first effort of note came after 20 minutes when Marcos Pizzelli fired just wide of the right post and the same player was the architect of the opening goal three minutes later. His gorgeous through pass put Movsisyan one-on-one with Ján Mucha and the Armenia forward calmly shot through the goalkeeper's legs. Mkhitaryan almost made it two soon after but Mucha was equal to his fierce free-kick.

The goal clearly affected Slovakia, but they gradually recovered their stride and after Weiss had narrowly missed the top-right corner from distance, he made no mistake with his second opening. With 37 minutes played, the Slovakia coach's son and namesake received the ball in the area, beat two defenders and fired past Berezovsky from close range.

Within five minutes of the restart, however, Armenian were back in front. Mucha could only parry substitute Edgar Manucharyan's attempt and Ghazaryan drilled home from close in. Slovakia stepped up the tempo as they sought a second equaliser, but the Armenians still carried a threat on the counterattack. Movsisyan had a free-kick saved by Mucha, while Ghazaryan failed to score in a one-on-one situation.

The final word went to Mkhitaryan with a minute remaining. Ghazaryan was the provider with a short pass to the FC Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker who beat Mucha with a low shot inside the left-hand corner from the edge of the box.

Armenia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia both opened their accounts in Group B of UEFA EURO 2012

Armenia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia both opened their accounts in Group B of UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying with a 2-2 draw in Skopje.

Beaten 1-0 by the Republic of Ireland and Slovakia respectively on Friday, neither side held sway for long in their second fixtures of the campaign. Yura Movsisyan gave Armenia the lead four minutes from half-time but Mario Gjurovski struck back barely 60 seconds later. It stayed level until the first minute of added time when Edgar Manucharyan seemed to have won it for the visitors, only for Ilčo Naumoski to score from the penalty spot to ensure the spoils were shared.

It could have been different for FYROM had Stevica Ristić's 25th-minute free-kick not struck the bar, but they found themselves behind when Movsisyan exploited confusion in Vlatko Kostov's defence and finished adroitly. Not for the last time, though, the home side swiftly bounced back, Gjurovski firing past Roman Berezovsky after a fine pass from captain Goran Pandev.

The equaliser galvanised FYROM but, having spurned a handful of openings, they found themselves on the back foot once more in the closing 15 minutes. Such profligacy looked to have cost them even a point when Manucharyan's counterattacking goal gave Armenia the lead but, six minutes into added time, Naumoski kept his cool.