Goals from Bosko Jankovic and Milan Jovanovic at the start and end of the match were enough for Serbia to triumph against Finland in the Euro 2008 qualifier match played on Saturday.

The win leaves Serbia at third position in the group table tied with Portugal at 14 points from 7 games. Jankovic opened the scoring for the visiting team after just 3 minutes when the 23-year old slotted home a volley from the middle of the penalty area.

Serbia then took the foot off the pedal and were content to play out the half with a one goal lead. Things were helped largely by the inability of Finland players to create any type of chances as the team struggled to recover from the early blow.

Serbia started the second half in fourth gear and Finland goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen had to be alert as he saved a shot by Zdravko Kuzmanovic 23 seconds into the second half. The resultant corner was curled in by Dejan Stankovic and found the head of defender Nemanja Vidic. However Vidic's effort was saved off the line by Hannu Tihinen.

Tihinen then popped up at the other end and almost equalized for his team from a corner in the 63rd minute. Even though he managed to beat Serbia keeper Vladimir Stojkovic, his effort was denied by the crossbar. Finland went on the offensive as time ticked away and were nearly rewarded when substitute Jonatan Johansson's was parried away just in time by Stojkovic.

Serbia put the game beyond Finland's reach in the 86th minute when Milan Jovanovic found himself in space in the Finnish penalty area and drove the ball past Jaaskelainen. Serbia coach Javier Clemente was delighted with his team's performance and praised the efforts put in by the debutants.

"Rukavina is so young and he played like he had a wealth of experience, Jovanovic did a great job while Kuzmanovic was also very impressive. We controlled the game very well after scoring the early goal and sealed it in the closing stages. I am really pleased with the performance", he added.

The Serbian national team has a 2 month break before facing Belgium in August while Finland, in fourth position with 11 points from 7 matches, will face Belgium on Saturday. Finland v Serbia finished with a 2-0 away win.