Hurme earns Finland draw against Greece

Finland fought back to earn a draw against Greece as Jarkko Hurme's second-half equaliser in Helsinki boosted their hopes of qualification for Euro 2016.

Despite an early effort from Tim Sparv drifting wide for the Finns, Greece looked more threatening in attack as first Panagiotis Tachtsidis blazed over from a corner before Stefanos Athanasiadis missed the target from a tight angle.

Claudio Ranieri's side edged in front on 24 minutes when Tachtsidis crossed for Nikolaos Karelis, who subsequently found the bottom right corner of Niki Maenpaa's net.

Finland looked for an instant equaliser through Roman Eremenko, who saw his shot saved by Orestis Karnezis.

The hosts continued to press for a goal before the break and nearly got it when Kari Arkivuo fired his effort wide.

Within moments of the restart, Alexander Ring was against testing Karnezis as the Panathinaikos stopper produced a save to keep out the midfielder.

However, the home side's determination was rewarded soon after when Kasper Hamalainen played in Hurme and the forward coolly slotted into the net.

Greece tried to find a winning goal, but Sokratis Papastathopoulos saw his 70th-minute header saved, while Vasilis Torosidis was denied from long range by Maenpaa.

Joel Pohjanpalo also came close to a late winner for the hosts, but both sides were forced to settle for a point that leaves Greece still looking a first victory of this campaign.