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Ukraine kept their hopes of reaching the last 16 at Euro 2020 alive after edging past North Macedonia.<\/p>\nUkraine kept their hopes of reaching the last 16 at Euro 2020 alive after edging past North Macedonia.<\/p>\n
Quickfire first-half goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk earned an entertaining 2-1 win in Bucharest.<\/p>\n
Ezgjan Alioski pulled a goal back, scoring the rebound after his penalty was saved.<\/p>\n
Ruslan Malinovsky also missed a late spot-kick but it did not stop Ukraine moving level with Holland and Austria on three points in Group C having played a game more.<\/p>\n
Goran Pandev had a goal disallowed for North Macedonia, who are now on the brink of elimination after losing their opening two games.<\/p>\n
An open and bright half saw both teams go close with Eljif Elmas miscuing a shot into the side netting and Yarmolenko shooting wide.<\/p>\n
It still took 29 minutes for a breakthrough as Ukraine delivered two quick knockout blows.<\/p>\n
Yarmolenko forced a corner after Stole Dimitrievski turned his shot wide but the West Ham winger was not denied when he turned in Oleksandr Karavayev\u2019s flick seconds after.<\/p>\n
Five minutes later it was 2-0 when Yaremchuk timed his run to race onto Yarmolenko\u2019s pass and beat Dimitrievski.<\/p>\n
North Macedonia continued to find openings, though, and Pandev was denied a goal by the offside flag after his clever chip beat Georgi Bushchan.<\/p>\n
Karavayev was thwarted by Dimitrievski as Ukraine chased a third six minutes before the break but they needed Bushchan to maintain their two-goal lead when he saved well from Enis Bardhi two minutes into the second half.<\/p>\n
Malinovsky\u2019s effort was parried by Dimitrievski before Macedonia grabbed a lifeline after 57 minutes.<\/p>\n
Bushchan brilliantly turned Aleksandar Trajkovski\u2019s shot onto the underside of the bar and, when Karavayev tried to clear, he failed to spot Pandev stealing in and fouled the Genoa forward.<\/p>\n
Bushchan saved Alioski\u2019s penalty but the Leeds midfielder smashed in the rebound to give North Macedonia hope.<\/p>\n
Yet Viktor Tsygankov should have made it comfortable for Ukraine with 16 minutes left but the substitute shot wide from 15 yards.<\/p>\n
Malinovsky then blew a golden chance to seal the game with six minutes remaining when his penalty was saved by Dimitrievski after Daniel Avramovski handled the forward\u2019s free-kick.<\/p>\n