Comfortable leaders of their group, Oleg Blokhin's young Ukraine have now recorded four wins and two draws, and with this new triumph proved they are not reliant on the talents of Andriy Shevchenko alone. The AC Milan striker had scored four of the team's nine goals in qualifying so far, but it was Rusol who put them ahead in Tirana on the half-hour mark tonight, and Gusin secured the three points on 59 minutes against an Albanian outfit that nonetheless fought hard right to the end.

On the back of victory in Turkey and a draw in Denmark, Ukraine once again demonstrated their prowess away from home and sent out a message to the chasing pack that they will be hard to catch. Qualification for the main event in Germany would represent a huge leap for the country, which despite making the play-offs on three separate occasions has yet to put in an appearance at a major tournament since gaining independence in 1991. Croatia blocked their path in 1998, while it was Germany's turn in 2002 and Slovenia beat them at the last hurdle before Euro 2000.

Behind the Ukrainians in the hotly-contested Group 2, European champions Greece at last got their own qualification bid back on track after emerging on top in a tight game at home with Denmark . Having taken just five points from four matches leading up to this evening's encounter, the Greeks needed to get off to a good start, and they did just that when Zagorakis handed them the lead after 25 minutes. Basinas put them two up from the penalty spot just seven minutes later.

Their opponents refused to give up though, and took advantage of a certain amount of complacency in the Greek camp to reduce the deficit through Rommedahl in first-half added-time. But after the restart, Greece rediscovered the defensive rigour that served them so well in the European Championship to close out Denmark and lift themselves up into second place in the standings. They now lie a daunting six points behind Ukraine, although they do have a game in hand.

Elsewhere, Macedonia were unable to gain revenge on Andorra for defeat last year - the Andorrans? first ever competitive win ? as the two sides struggling in Group 1 played out a goalless draw.

For their part, Spain were able to increase their goal difference as many had expected with a 5-0 win over San Marino , the goals coming from Joaquin (15), Torres (33), Raul (45), Guti (65) and Del Horno (79?). The result helps Luis Aragones' men up into second place in Group 7, ahead of Lithuania thanks to their newly-improved goal difference (+7 compared to +5), and now only two points behind Serbia-Montenegro. These three sides now look certain to contest the top two berths, but Bosnia, Belgium and San Marino are sure to play a key role in the remaining games.

Two full rounds of qualification will be held next month.