Greece surrendered top spot in Group F of the Euro 2012 qualifiers as they were held to a draw in Latvia.

Croatia ascended to top spot earlier in the evening and Greece could not catch them as Latvia goalkeeper Andris Vanins produced a series of fine saves to keep them out.

Aleksandrs Cauna had put the hosts in front in the 19th minute, and it stood until Kyriakos Papadopoulos' levelled six minutes from time.

Greece began brightly, with Ioannis Fetfatzidis firing wide in the early going before Dimitris Salpingidis' effort was blocked by Deniss Ivanovs.

Salpingidis then blazed over while Giorgos Karagoinis brought the first fine save from Vanins, who palmed a free-kick to safety.

But after Georgios Samaras fired over in the 18th minute, Latvia punished the wayward shooting when Cauna beat Michail Sifakis with a low shot.

Nikos Liberopoulos fired wastefully over the bar at the other end, but Latvia were growing in confidence and created several chances for a second.

Maris Verpakovskis' free-kick went over while Olegs Laizans sent his shot wide from a good position.

Socratis Papastathopoulos then charged down Aleksandrs Fertovs' effort before Sifakis made a great save to keep out Ivans Lukjanovs' header.

Greece had been struggling to impose themselves, but Karagounis forced Vanins into another good save on the half-hour mark before Fetfatzidis shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Loukas Vyntra's effort was blocked by Ritus Krjauklis while, at the other end, Sifakis had to be on his toes to push Cauna's shot from the edge of the area to safety.

It was Greece who ended the first half in the ascendancy as they pushed for an equaliser, with Samaras having a shot blocked before Vanins made another top save to keep out Grigoris Makos' close-range shot.

The onslaught continued in the second half, with Salpingdis somehow shooting over from close range before Alexis Tziolis dragged his shot wide.

Papadopoulos, Samaras and Liberopoulos all missed with headers before Artjoms Rudnevs wasted a chance to kill off Greece by shooting over.

Vanins was the Latvia hero again in the 75th minute with a great save to keep out Giannis Maniatis's close-range shot.

But Greece finally got their reward with six minutes left when Papadopoulos lashed home from Maniatis' corner.

They then had several chances to win it, but Samaras missed twice before Liberopoulos was off-target in the final minute.