The Cologne striker sent his first set-piece flying past Kiwi goalkeeper Mark Paston in the sixth minute but New Zealand - in good form after last week's win over Serbia - hit back 15 minutes later through Rory Fallon.

Novakovic's second free-kick put the Slovenians back in front on the half-hour, though, and Andraz Kim completed the scoring on the stroke of half-time.

Home coach Matjaz Kek made five second-half substitutions as the encounter petered out.