Finnish own goals hand Russia victory

October 15, 2008

Russia received a helping hand as two own goals from Finland gifted them a 3-0 victory on Wednesday to get their 2010 World Cup qualification campaign back on track.

Finland found themselves two down after both Petri Pasanen and Veli Lampi put through their own net, giving Russia contol of this Group Four fixture, before Andrei Arshavin added a third late on.

Russia came into the match looking rusty and made a number of errors though they had a couple of goal-scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes. Finland were looking solid in defence however with keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen untroubled early on.

In the 23rd minute, things started to go wrong for Finland as Ajax star Pasanen put through his own net under pressure from Pavel Pogrebnyak.

In the second half, Russia, spurred on by a 25,000 home crowd, seized the initiative again and created more chances though could still not find that last touch to get their second goal.

The victory was the perfect way to bounce back for Russia and keeps the pressure on group leaders Germany, who defeated Wales on Wednesday.

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