Finland managed to put an end to the run of consecutive defeat by chalking out a comfortable 2-0 victory over a 10-man Belgium team in their Euro 2008 qualifier match on Wednesday.

The win leaves Roy Hodgson's side level on points with Portugal and Serbia and moves them closer to group leaders Poland. Both the teams were looking to improve on their defeats at the weekend, with Finland losing 2-0 to Serbia while Belgium were defeated by Portugal.

While Belgium created the first chance of the match, with Emile Mpenza heading wide of the goal in the second minute, René Vandereycken's side were unable to create much throughout the game and will have no complaints over the score line.

Finland were eager to put behind the disappointment over the defeat to Serbia and started to take control of the match. Stijn Stijnen had to be alert early on in the game to deny Markus Heikkinen's long range effort. Joonas Kolkka and Aleksei Eremenko were unable to hit the target from the edge of the penalty area, instead shooting high into the crowd.

Finland took the lead the 27th minute when Kolkka curled in a ball from the left wing which was gleefully put away by Jonatan Johansson. Belgium tried to put together a response with Tom De Mul and Steven Defour doing well to create a chance, but Defour's header looped over the bar.

Any hopes of a Belgium revival in the second half were evaporated seven minutes into the second half when Fellaini was given his second yellow card of the match after a foul on Hannu Tihinen. Finland made full use of their numerical advantage by doubling the lead in the 71st minute.

Johansson turned provider this time when his cross from the left side picked out Eremenko, who made no mistake in converting the chance from 12 yards out. Finland can reduce the gap on Poland to just 2 points if they win their match in hand. Roy Hodgson's side faces a home fixture against Kazakhstan in August before playing Serbia and Portugal in September. Finland v Belgium ended with a 2-0 home win.