Vladimir Petrovic's tenure as Serbia coach got off to the worst possible start as they let slip a 1-0 lead to suffer a shock UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying defeat to Estonia in Belgrade.

The team had taken four points from their first two matches under Raddy Antic, but the Serbian federation decided a change was needed and brought in Petrovic.

It looked to be going his way when Birmingham striker Nikola Zigic struck on the hour, but a fine goal from Middlesbrough forward Tarmo Kink drew the Baltic nation level and Konstantin Vassiljev put them in front in the 73rd minute. The result was sealed by an Aleksandar Lukovic own goal in injury time and took Estonia into second place in Group C behind Italy.

Tarmo Ruutli's side gave an early indication that they had not come to Belgrade just to defend when Sander Puri's volley drew a good save from recalled Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic. Sergei Zenjov was then denied in a one-on-one situation by Stojkovic, and his exploits looked to have drawn rich reward when Zigic gave the hosts a 60th-minute lead.

The goal had an element of luck about it as the former Valencia forward unintentionally deflected Zdravko Kuzmanovic's shot beyond Estonia goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko. However, Estonia were only behind for three minutes as a stunning long-range strike from Kink sailed over Stojkovic and under the crossbar.

Serbia pushed for a second at the FK Partizan Stadium but ten minutes after levelling Estonia were in front when Vassiljev drilled a shot past Stojkovic after Aleksandr Dmitrijev's initial shot was blocked by Dejan Stankovic.

Coach Petrovic loaded up on attacking players in a bid to salvage something from the game but their misery was compounded in stoppage time when Lukovic and Stojkovic got in a mix-up and the Zenit St Petersburg defender's header left his goalkeeper stranded.