Dirk Kuyt twice came close to adding to his international tally in the 14th minute, first shooting wide from the edge of the area before forcing a save from Samir Handanovic with a drilled effort.

Kuyt got a foot to Urby Emanuelson's cross but fired over in the 21st minute, and three minutes later Wesley Sneijder's shot from 12 yards was parried away by Handanovic with no-one able to get to the rebound.

The hosts were finding little of the ball, and in the 26th minute debutant Ibrahim Afellay almost got his international career off to a flying start, but his shot from Sneijder's corner went wide.

Kuyt was coming closer and closer to a goal, and was once again denied by Handanovic when he got his head to another Emanuelson cross.

It took Slovenia 36 minutes to register their first attempt, but it was worth the wait with a brilliant drilled shot from Klemen Lavric going just wide of the right post.

The hosts did end the half in the ascendancy, with Milenko Acimovic shooting off target, but Holland generated the game's best chance early in the second period, Joris Mathijsen getting his head to Sneijder's corner but finding only the crossbar.

Afellay and Arjen Robben shot over in turn in the 53rd and 56th minutes, while Van Bronckhorst's 25-yard effort was well saved by Handanovic.

Slovenia replaced Acimovic with Goran Sukalo on the hour mark as they sought to contain the Holland midfield, and the move worked as they restricted their visitors for the next 20 minutes.

In response Holland threw on Danny Koevermans and Nigel de Jong but it was Slovenia who had the next chance, Robert Koren firing over from the edge of the box.

With six minutes to go Edwin van der Sar pushed away Valter Birsa's drilled effort and two minutes later Holland were ahead.

Van Bronckhorst proved to be the hero as his 25-yard shot took a deflection off two Slovenian players to give Handanovic no chance.