Norway 0

Yugoslavia - 1: Milosevic 8

Referee: H Dallas (Scotland).

Booked: Norway - Mykland, E Bakke. Yugoslavia - Jokanovic, Jugovic, Drulovic, Nadj. Sent Off: Kezman (88).

Yugoslavia are back to promulgate the gospel of Eastern European football after a precious win in Liege last evening set up a knife edge finish in Group C.

Against Slovenia in their opening game, they depended on a belated wake-up call to generate the urgency needed to uncover the routes through the opposing defence.

Now the plot was markedly different with the decisive goal from Savo Milosevic arriving after eight minutes. Fittingly in a game which is likely to be recalled for all the wrong reasons, it was no thing of beauty with Milosevic, surrounded by opponents, getting a mere touch to deflect Vladimir Jugovic's free kick into the net.

We were not to know it then but for all the mountainous physical effort, the netting would not be disturbed further for the rest of the evening. And given some superb touches by Dragan Stojkovic on his return to the Yugoslav team, that was mildly surprising.

Stojkovic's languid skills, particularly in the first half, were far and away the most entertaining feature of a game which deteriorated into a shambles in the second half when cynical fouls, accentuated by theatrics, stripped the occasion of almost any merit it had.

Beating opponents with the tiniest adjustment of the ball, the veteran midfielder rolled back the years to remind us that when the Yugoslavs set their mind to it, their technical skills can be on a par with the best.

Sadly, even he would be caught in the subsequent mayhem which saw five players booked before the Scottish referee, Hugh Dallas produced a red card for Mateja Kezman in the 87th minute, just 60 seconds after he had replaced Predrag Mijatovic.

Some would argue that had Dallas taken that kind of action earlier in the evening when studs frequently showed and elbows worked overtime, we might never have been made to endure the kind of fare which passed for entertainment.

After their splendid win over Spain, Norway were cruelly exposed as a team bereft of attacking options. Slavishly, they pursued a policy of hoisting the ball from the back in the hope that Tore Andre Flo's knock-ons would somehow find their way to the feet of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

"We knew the type of game Norway favoured and felt confident we could cope with it," said Yugoslav manager, Vujadin Boskov. "It was a hard, tough game for us but I think we can now qualify in our game against Spain."

Stojkovic's return to midfield was the catalyst which transformed the Yugoslavs. A clumsy tackle on Stojkovic put Norway in trouble in the first instance and when Jugovic curled in the free kick at pace, Milosevic got the faintest touch in a crowded goalmouth to deflect the ball into the corner of the net. It was the striker's third goal in the championship.

Most of the traffic flowed, admittedly at irregular intervals, towards Thomas Myhre's goal. More moments of magic by Stojkovic gave Jugovic a clear sighting of the net but before he could unlease the shot, Bergdomo was in with the smothering tackle.

Fittingly perhaps on an evening when the Norwegians constructed little of real consequence, one of their best second-half chances materialised when Flo's header off a cross by Erik Mykland cannoned over.

For all their physical commitment, however, precious little else of note happened in the Yugoslav penalty area as they played out the last half hour of a drab, largely unedifying game.