England's 2-0 victory at Hampden Park yesterday against arch rivals Scotland was thanks to goals from one man, Manchester United's Paul Scholes.

Denmark had a handful following their 5-0 goal spree in Ramat Gan leaving Wednesday's Copenhagen return surely a mere formality.

Slovenia's Milenko Acimovic hit a 50-metre lob to earn a 2-1 win for Slovenia over top European side Ukraine to give the former Yugoslavian state a chance in a finely-balanced second-leg in Kyiv.

Turkey, whose side travelled to the Republic of Ireland despite recent earthquakes, earned a 1-1 draw to take back for their home-leg.

Tayfur Havutcu converted from the spot late after Lee Carsley was penalised for a handball to cancel out Robbie Keane's opener for the Republic.

Scholes shattered Scotland with two first-halfstrikes. The red-headed forward sidefooted the first after 21 minutes and headed the second three minutes before the interval to decide a hotly-anticipated match which had brought the two nations to a virtual standstill.

Kevin Keegan's side now have a decisive advantage for the return leg at Wembley on Wednesday, with the aggregate winners earning a place in next year's finals in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Meanwhile, the 43,000 spectators at the Ramat Gan Stadium saw a comprehensive display of attacking football by Denmark culminating in goals for Jon Dahl Tomasson (2), Stig Tofting, Martin Jorgensen and finally Brian Steen Nielsen.

Representatives of the Palestinian Football Federation attended the match after accepting an invitation from Israeli officials.

At Ljubljana, Acimovic hit an opportunist late winner for rank outsiders Slovenia in their win over nine-man Ukraine. Olympiakos striker Zlatko Zlahovic replied to the first half goal of Ukraine's AC Milan star Andriy Shevchenko before a50-metre lob by Acimovic in the closing minutes settled the issue.

Ireland were beginning to despair but with 11 minutes left, substitute David Connolly set up Keane who scored.

controlled well and put the ball past Turkish keeper Rustu Recber. The lead didn't last long.

Turkey went up the other end and Erden Arif fired in a shot which Carsley blocked but then batted away with his arm.

Tayfur stepped up to beat Kiely to give Turkey an important away goal and level the score.