Sergey Ostapenko's first goal for his country saw Kazakhstan leapfrog above opponents Armenia to finish their Euro 2008 campaign in sixth spot in Group A.

The 21-year-old's second-half strike was enough to send the visitors to only their second victory of the qualifiers in a nervy match of few chances.

Both sides started cagily and it took over 16 minutes for the first real attempt on goal.

Robert Arzumanyan came close to putting Armenia ahead when Artur Voskanyan's free-kick found him in space on the left right-footed, but he fired wide.

It wasn't until the 23rd minute that Kazakhstan had their first real shot at goal.

Farkhadbek Irismetov's freekick found Ostapenko who drilled an 18-yard effort towards goal that was comfortably caught by goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky.

Armenia weren't translating shots into goals and just after the half-hour mark Karen Dokhoyan had a great chance to put them ahead but he fired over the bar.

Levon Pachajyan came close to sending Armenia in at the break ahead, as his stunning 20-yard strike on the stroke of half-time skimmed the top of the crossbar.

The hosts came out in the second half determined to get a goal, and almost did so two minutes after the restart when Samvel Melkonyan sent a 12-yard effort narrowly past the right upright.

The visitors almost took a surprise lead on the hour mark. Sergey Larin's cross found Ostapenko in the middle of the area and Berezovsky had to react swiftly to save.

But four minutes later Ostapenko did put his side ahead, firing the ball high into the back of the net from the edge of the area.

Armenia came agonisingly close to getting back on level terms just two minutes later as Artavazd Karamyan's curling free kick flew just over the bar.

The hosts strove desperately for the equaliser but never really tested Kazakhstan keeper David Loria - unsurprising for a team that has only scored four goals in their 12 qualifiers.

Teams:

Armenia Berezovsky, Hovsepyan, Arzumanyan, Dokhoyan, Tadevosyan, Arakelian (Khachatryan 56), Voskanyan (Ghazarian 80), Karamyan, Mkhitaryan, Pachajyan, Melkonyan (Manucharyan 59).

Subs Not Used: Kasparov, Minasian, Mkrtchyan, Aleksanyan.

Booked: Ghazarian.

Kazakhstan Loriya, Nurdauletov, Kuchma, Zhalmagambetov, Irismetov, Baltiyev, Larin (Lyapkin 61), Skorykh, Zhumaskaliyev, Ostapenko, Byakov.

Subs Not Used: Mokin, Yegor Azovskiy, Mukanov, Ashirbekov,

Chichulin, Suyumagambetov.

Booked: Zhalmagambetov, Kuchma.

Goals: Ostapenko 64.

Att: 8,000

Ref: Fredy Fautrel (France).