Swiss finish EURO campaign with Montenegro win

Switzerland were left to wonder what might have been after completing their UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying campaign with a hollow victory over Montenegro. Second-half goals from Eren Derdiyok and Stephan Lichtsteiner decided the match but it was too little too late for the Swiss to pip their opponents to runners-up spot in Group G following contrasting results for the pair on Friday. While Switzerland were slumping to a 2-0 defeat at Wales four days ago, Montenegro were fighting back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with England - and that point was all that separated the two play-off hopefuls in the final standings following tonight's result. Switzerland, whose loss to Wales saw them fail to qualify for the European Championships for the first time since 2000, started well in Basle and in the opening 30 minutes Eren Derdiyok and Valon Behrami were both denied by visiting goalkeeper Mladen Bozovic while Gokhan Inler and Xherdan Shaqiri each fired efforts wide. Montenegro briefly threatened in the 31st minute when Dejan Damjanovic's shot was turned round the post by Diego Benaglio but the action soon returned to the other end of the pitch with Mehmedi (three times) and Behrami both trying their luck in search of the opening goal before half-time. The Swiss, who had lost 1-0 in Montenegro earlier in qualifying, finally made the breakthrough six minutes after the break when Derdiyok slotted home from 12 yards out. Montenegro came close to an immediate equaliser when Radomir Djalovic's shot was parried by Diego Benaglio, but aside from that it was the Swiss who looked the more likely side to add to the scoreline, which they duly did in the 65th minute. Lichtsteiner latched onto a pass near the top right-hand corner of the area and drilled a low shot past Bozovic into the far bottom corner of the net to seal a deserved win, which could have been even greater if the hosts had the made the most of further opportunities in the closing stages.