Ukraine end England run

Serhiy Nazarenko's deflected strike in the 29th minute gave his side a crucial victory in their bid to secure a play-off place.

Robert Green was sent off in the 16th minute after bringing down Artem Milevskiy for a penalty and although Andriy Shevchenko missed the resulting spot kick, Oleksiy Mikhailichenko's side held on for a deserved win to end England's eight-match winning run.

A frenetic opening to the match came to a head when goalkeeper Green was shown the red card for upending Milevskiy after the forward stole in behind Rio Ferdinand.

But Shevchenko proceeded to find the outside of the post from the spot as England were handed a reprieve in Dnipropetrovsk. The warning was not heeded.

Aaron Lennon was England's most potent outlet in the opening 10 minutes but the Tottenham winger had to make way for David James in the wake of Green's dismissal as England lost their shape and attacking drive.

Capello's side have been lauded for their unerring efficiency so far in the campaign, but their first-half performance was less clinical than chaotic.

Ukraine had six attempts on target compared to England's one as Nazarenko gave Ashley Cole a torrid time down the hosts' right and one such effort from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection off the left-back to beat the helpless James as the midfielder capped a fine display.

Frank Lampard came tantalisingly close to drawing the visitors level moments after Nazarenko's opener, but he slid his shot wide of Andrei Pyatov and the far post after being put through by Steven Gerrard.

The dangerous Milevskiy then struck the post with a rasping shot from 25 yards which had James comprehensively beaten on the half-hour as the forward almost doubled Ukraine's lead.

The fluid play which marked out England's eight wins from successive matches was not apparent as their fragmented forward play yielded a scarce amount of clear-cut chances.

Gerrard made way for James Milner as Capello reshuffled his side's formation with Rooney supporting the increasingly isolated Emile Heskey, who was later replaced by Carlton Cole, but the Italian could not fashion a tangible improvement.

Yaroslav Rakitskiy hammered a long-range left-footed shot which had James at full stretch as he tipped the ball away for a corner after being called into action once more.

Lampard and Rooney combined on two occasions around the Ukraine penalty area but to no avail as England grew increasingly agitated by Ukraine's stout defending.

James made another impressive point-blank stop as substitute Andriy Yarmolenko's marauding run saw him skip past the flat-footed Ferdinand but his effort was parried away by the keeper, who was determined to make a statement.

Rooney went agonisingly close in the final minute of the 90 as the nine-goal forward drilled a low shot narrowly wide of Pyatov's far post, but that was England's final attempt in earnest to salvage something from the match.

The visitors piled forward in search of a late equaliser as the home fans implored the referee to blow his whistle, but Ukraine clung on to preserve their slender advantage.

The victory took Ukraine to 18 points, one ahead of Croatia. Ukraine complete their fixtures with a trip to pointless Andorra on Wednesday while Croatia visit Kazakhstan.

England, meanwhile, will be left to rue a frantic and ultimately decisive opening period as their 100 per cent record was brought to an abrupt halt.

Elsewhere in Group 6, two goals by midfielder Timofei Kalachev helped Belarus to a 4-0 victory over Kazakhstan.

Maxim Bordachev scored the only goal of the first half in the 23rd minute, before Kalachev doubled the lead with a 25-yard drive in the 69th.

Substitute Leonid Kovel grabbed the third in the 86th minute, before Kalachev ended the scoring with a header in the third minute of added time in the western Belarussian city of Brest.

Neither team can qualify.