Macedonia's Sašo Lazarevski's provided the away team's first chance, bursting clear to curl in a cross which Aco Stojkov headed over. He went one better in the 23rd minute, crossing for Vlatko Grozdanov to drill in at the far post.

Turkey, though, equalised within seconds of the restart. Real Sociedad forward Nihat Kahveci collected a short pass from the inspirational Emre and cut across the area to strike a shot which ricocheted in off the underside of the bar. But the celebrations soon were on halt as they were behind again with Aco Stojkov breaking clear on the right and overpowering his marker to clip a ball across the face of goal for Artim Sakiri to bundle in.

Then the Turkish crowd had disrupted the match by throwing bottles on the field, hitting Lazarevski on the head. It's expected that action will be taken by UEFA.

Turkey seized control from the start of the second period with the equaliser just three minutes after the interval, gaining the impetus they would need to win the match. Hakan Sükür did well to hold off several defenders inside the box and laid the ball on for Gökdeniz Karadeniz to poke past Milosevski.

The hosts were now wholly in command and Sükür showed his predatory instincts in the 59th minute when he scored what proved to be the winning goal, latching on to a ball clipped into the box by Nihat and volleying into the bottom left-hand corner.

Turkey will hope to collect three points from their trip to face Liechtenstein on 6 September, the same day the Macedonian's are set to play undefeated England in what will be key encounters in deciding the group.