Mitro’s got his side a ticket
Serbia 2 Montenegro 1
SERBIA closed in on promotion to the Nations League second tier after they topped Group 4 in League C with a home win over Montenegro yesterday.
The Serbians, after first-half goals from Adem Ljajic (below) and Aleksandar Mitrovic, have 11 points from five games, four more than Montenegro who can no longer clinch top spot.
Serbia will go up if Romania, who have six points from four, fail to beat visiting Lithuania. Lithuania have no points from four games and face relegation to League D.
Ljajic and Mitrovic, who also missed a penalty, put Serbia in the driving seat but were forced to hang on after Stefan Mugosa pulled one back after 70 minutes.
The home side dominated the opening period and Ljajic fired them ahead in the 30th minute when he took a delightful Dusan Tadic through ball into his stride and beat keeper Danijel Petkovic with a cool finish.
Mitrovic doubled the lead two minutes later with a superb header after twisting and turning in mid-air to meet a teasing Aleksandar Kolarov cross from the left.
However, the Fulham striker was guilty of a poor penalty miss on 38 minutes.
Roared on by a small but noisy crowd, Montenegro looked up for it after the break and striker Mugosa fired a shot into the roof of the net.