Coach Bert van Marwijk has selected just one member of his World Cup squad for this first fixture since their final defeat to Spain in South Africa in the form of keeper Michel Vorm, but they did not let him down as they matched their more experienced opponents.

After a woeful first 45 minutes the game sprang to life after the break and Jermaine Lens gave the visitors the lead with a close-range finish in the 73rd minute.

But it took only a minute for the hosts to level thanks to Oleksandr Aliev's stunning free-kick.

The game got off to a dour start with neither side putting a great deal of pressure on their opponents, although the visitors did at least manage the first shot of the game when Wout Brama blazed over the bar from long range.

Yaroslav Rakitskiy was booked for a foul on Lens in the seventh minute, before Lens wasted the first meaningful chance of the game as he fired wide when well-placed inside the box.

Despite all the changes to Van Marwijk's side they looked the more threatening in possession and Ajax's Siem de Jong also had a shot from distance.

The hosts finally had an effort on goal in the 22nd minute through striker Andriy Shevchenko, but he pushed his effort from just outside the box wide of the target.

De Jong then had another effort from distance, but was hopelessly off target with an effort that summed up an awful opening half during which neither keeper was forced into a save.

Van Marwijk made two changes at half-time as Hedwiges Maduro and Erik Pieters replacing Jeffrey Bruma and Vurnon Anita respectively while the hosts brought Artem Milevskiy on for Andriy Voronin.

And there was finally some action to excite the fans as Aliev's powerful strike was parried away by Vorm in the Dutch goal, before the lively Lens saw his curling effort beaten out by Andrei Pyatov.

Vorm then made two outstanding saves as he scrambled to keep out Anatoliy Tymoschuk's low drive and somehow tipped a point-blank header from Yaroslav Rakitskiy round the post.

Another thunderbolt from Tymoschuk kept the Utrecht stopper on his toes, with Olexander Romanchuk also going close as Ukraine took in complete control of the game.

The Dutch looked to respond and they almost took the lead against the run of play but Leroy Fer headed over the bar after good work down the left flank from Theo Janssen.

And Lens then gave them the lead as he tapped in in the 73rd minute, but it did not last long as Aliev produced a magnificent free-kick to finally end Vorm's resistance just over a minute later.

But after that flurry of action the game rather petered out, although Fer once again headed over when he ought to have done better from a Janssen cross.