Slovenia, 200-1 outsiders, surpassed even England when they threw away a three-goal lead in the battle of the Balkans in Charleroi last night.

In another European Championship thriller the smallest country to appear in the finals looked home and dry when Zlatko Zahovic was gifted his second goal of the match after 57 minutes to leave big neighbours Yugoslavia stunned.

Yugoslavia's fortunes were turned around after they had Sinisa Mihajlovic sent off on the hour for a second bookable offence. Former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic came off the bench to score twice and salvage a point in the Group C clash.

Milosevic, now with Real Zaragoza, tapped in two simple goals - after his team were outplayed for an hour by Slovenia.

'My players thought it would be easy, that the points would come from heaven,' said Yugoslavia's veteran coach Vujadin Boskov. 'But it was a great match and we could have won in the end.'

Boskov hammered the sides of the dug-out in frustration when Mihajlovic was sent off for a tame push, without provocation. But later the coach had cooled down and he said: 'Sinisa was in a strange situation. He is not used to losing at Lazio.'

Milosevic said: 'When the game went to 3-0 I didn't think we could get back into it. It was only after we scored our second goal that I began to believe again.

'I saw on their faces that they were losing confidence and that was the most important thing for us.

'We didn't underestimate them, but we forgot to work hard and in the last five years we have learnt that to succeed in European football you have to work hard. Only then can your personal qualities come through.'

Slovenia coach Srecko Katanec was proud of the way his players had performed on their debut in a major tournament, but disappointed to have lost a three-goal lead.

Katanec, a Slovenian who played for Yugoslavia before independence 10 years ago, said: 'The players are not happy in the dressing-room, but maybe in future it might not seem as bad. We will sit down and analyse the match and maybe see where the mistakes happened.' Zahovic, who scored 10 goals in the qualifying tournament, gave Slovenia the lead after 23 minutes.

Ales Ceh whipped a cross into the area and Zahovic, who had charged forward from midfield, twisted in mid-air to head the ball home.

Slovenia struck from a set-piece to double their lead in the 52nd minute. Zahovic lifted a free-kick into the area and Miran Pavlin stole in to head past Ivica Kralj.

Then, five minutes later, Mihajlovic gifted the Solvenians a third. The Lazio defender's pass across the edge of his own penalty area went straight to Zahovic, who produced a clinical left-foot finish.

Mihajlovic's misery became greater in the 60th minute. Intervening in a dispute between teammate Albert Nadj and Saso Udovic, he pushed the Slovenian in the chest and Udovic fell to the floor.

The Yugoslav defender, already shown a yellow card for dissent recieved his second of the game.

Almost immediately, Yugoslavia pulled a goal back from a corner. Mladen Dabanovic tried to usher the ball over the byline but Marinko Galic hooked his boot around the goalkeeper's body and set up Milosevic for the simplest of goals. Three minutes later, Ljubinko Drulovic fired in the second, and then 17 minutes from time, pulled back a centre from the by-line for Milosevic to tap in the equaliser.

Yugoslavia: Ivica Kralj, Ivan Dudic, Miroslav Djukic, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Albert Nadj, Dejan Stankovic, Slavisa Jokanovic, Ljubinko Drulovic, Vladimir Jugovic, Darko Kovacevic, Predrag Mijatovic.

Slovenia: Mladen Dabanovic, Darko Milanic, Marinko Galic, Zeljko Milinovic, Dzoni Novak, Ales Ceh, Miran Pavlin, Amir Karic, Zlatko Zahovic, Saso Udovic, Mladen Rudonja.

Referee: M Pereira (Portugal)