In pole position though are Slaven Bilic's Croats, who claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Estonia in Tallinn.

Eduardo Da Silva scored the only goal in the first half to earn his side a hard-fought victory over the Estonians.

The Brazilian-born striker scored with a superb shot on the turn in the 32nd minute, but was then overshadowed by goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, who turned in a fine performance between the sticks to earn his team top spot in the group on 16 points, while Estonia remain pointless in sixth.

Israel are second on 14 points after holding on for a valuable 2-1 victory in Skopje against FYR Macedonia.

The visitors took an early lead as Under-21 striker Barak Itzhaki made the perfect start to his full international career with a debut goal within 11 minutes.

Macedonia struck back instantly through Aco Stojkov (13) but Roberto Colautti's 44th minute header put Israel back in charge just before half-time.

The visitors were forced to defend for most of the second period but held out to stay second, with Macedonia in fifth on seven points.

Finally, the biggest win of the night went to Guus Hiddink's Russians who soared to a 4-0 home victory over Andorra, thanks to a hat-trick from Alexander Kerzhakov.

On his return to St Petersburg, the local hero who left his hometown club Zenit St Petersburg for Sevilla during the winter, scored in the eighth, 16th and 49th minutes to help set his side on their way.

Dmitri Sychev (71) hit the fourth and final goal to complete the route as Hiddink's side moved onto 14 points with Israel.