Slovenia coach Srecko Katanec believes his side have silenced the doubters who predicted they would be the whipping boys of Euro 2000, despite failing to make it through the group stages.

The Group C outsiders picked up their second point of the tournament with a 0-0 draw against Norway in Arnhem, having earlier matched Yugoslavia in a 3-3 thriller before being edged out by Spain.

Katanec said: 'We have gone out of the championships, but we can be proud because we have had a good Euro 2000.

'We were not expected to do well here, but we have shown everybody that we can compete at a high level.

'A lapse in concentration cost us against Spain and we were unlucky not to get a point, but at least we can say we lost to the group winners.

'People will now know who Slovenia are, and maybe we can continue to surprise them in the future.' Norway coach Nils Johan Semb was left to reflect on what might have been after his team were dumped out due to a late rally by Spain in the other Group C clash against Yugoslavia.

The Scandinavians paid the price for over-caution - and then watched in horror as two late Spanish goals in the other game flung them out of the competition.

Semb said: 'I was kept in touch with the score from the other game, but as our match was drawing to a close I was concentrating on what was happening here. It was only when I saw a Spanish journalist celebrating in the press tribune that I knew we were out.

'It's a bitter disappointment to be so close to going through, and for all that to change in the space of a few minutes.

'We tried to be positive, especially in the last 20 minutes when we found out Yugoslavia were in front, but we did not put enough pressure on their goal.

'They (Slovenia) still had a chance to qualify, so they were quite defensive and tried to hit us on the break. But our keeper had little to do.'

Tenacious Norwegian midfielder Erik Mykland, voted man of the match, added: 'We are all really down in the dressing room. It is a terrible way to go out of the tournament.'