Bulgaria kept pace with Netherlands and Romania at the top of the table with a clinical performance against Luxembourg in their Euro 2008 qualifying match on Wednesday which ended in a comfortable 3-0 win for the hosts.

Dimitar Berbatov scored two goals in two minutes in the first half before Martin Petrov completed the rout for Bulgaria with a goal from the penalty spot in the 54th minute. The win sees Bulgaria remain just 2 points away from the top two positions in the table, though they have played one match more than Holland or Romania.

The hosts started the game strong, with Berbatov creating the first chance of the match as early as in the 5th minute when his header was saved in style by Luxembourg keeper Jonathan Joubert. The Tottenham striker then went on to waste a half chance from long range before hitting his overhead kick straight into the hands of Joubert.

Berbatov finally got his goal in the 27th minute when he was the first to reach Stilian Petrov's curling free kick and was left with a simple header to put Bulgaria in the lead. The 26-year old doubled the lead a minute later when he latched on to a pass by Ivelin Popov before hitting a great lob over Joubert and into the net.

Bulgaria started the second half at the same tempo and Joubert had to be at his best to deny Stilian Petrov early into the half. Nine minutes into the second half and Bulgaria were awarded a penalty when Berbatov was fouled in the area by Eric Hoffmann. Martin Petrov stepped up to take the kick and did not disappoint the home crowd.

Bulgaria continued to press forward and though Berbatov, Stanislav Angelov and Chavdar Yankov had great chances to extend the lead, but were wasteful in front of the goal. Bulgaria next play Albania on October 17 while Luxembourg will look to open their account in the campaign against Belarus on October 13.