An experimental Serbia team left it late to claim a win against Kazakhstan in a match that had no bearing on Euro 2008 qualification but offers them hope for the future.

With Serbia's slender qualification hopes ended on Wednesday, coach Javier Clemente had opted to rest many of his usual starters and blood youngsters, with an eye on the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

And the starlets did not let him down, although the decisive strike was a late own goal from Kazakhstan player Sergey Ostapenko.

Serbia started well with Milos Krasic firing over the bar early on.

The Serbs came even closer to scoring after 15 minutes when Dusan Andjelkovic's cross was met by Nikola Zigic whose header rattled the crossbar.

Serbia finally got their goal with just over 10 minutes to play as Ostapenko found his own net after a shot from Zigic had hit the bar.

The game should have been played last Saturday when Serbia still had qualification hopes but was postponed because of snow.

It was then rescheduled for Sunday but, once again, inclement weather led to another postponement.