Ukraine 1 Slovenia 1

Slovenia go through to finals 3-2 on aggregate

Slovenia made it to their first major football finals by holding Ukraine to a 1-1 draw in Kiev.

The Slovenia side go through to the December 12th draw with a 3-2 win on aggregate after Ukraine failed to overhaul a 2-1 lead held from the first leg in Ljubljana.

They can thank Miran Pavlin for a 79th minute equaliser that took them to low countries but it was a lucky goal.

Pavlin fired in a speculative shot when there was little else on for the SC Freiburg player. The shot caught a boot in the Ukraine area and spiralled into th net beyond goalkeeper Olexander Shovkovsky who was wrong footed.

Ten minutes earlier Ukraine had got right back into this play-off after a scrappy first half when Serhiy Rebrov had scored a goal to level the tie on aggregate and bring the Ukraine's away goal into play. A run from Andriy Shevchenko was halted by a foul in the area and Rebrov took a neat penalty to place the ball into the net.

Slovenia held on as their defence played well against a Ukraine side that bore a heavy weight of expectation. Slovenia now play in their first major finals football finals next summer.