Poland and Slovenia lead the way after both nations recorded impressive wins on Saturday.

Pawel Brozek and Jakub Blaszczykowski scored either side of half-time to lift Poland on to seven points from their opening three games.

Martin Fenin's consolation was too little too late for the Czechs.

Slovenia were frustrated for much of the contest by a stubborn Northern Ireland rearguard but eventually prevailed thanks to goals from Milivoje Novakovic and substitute Zlatan Ljubijankic in the 84th and 85th minutes.

It was a heartbreaking end to the match for the Nigel Worthington's team, who had shown good discipline until the last six minutes.

Ten-man Slovakia cruised to victory in San Marino to get their qualifying campaign back on track.

The hosts held out for just over half an hour but were then undone by two goals in five minutes by Stanislav Sestak (33) and Jan Kozak (38).

Andy Selva grabbed one back for the minnows but their hopes of getting anything from the match were dented five minutes into the second half when Miroslav Karhan restored Slovakia's two-goal advantage.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 72nd minute when Roman Kratochvil was sent-off for a second yellow card but never looked in danger of conceding again.

Slovakia remain third, a point behind Slovenia and Poland while San Marino remain firmly rooted at the bottom of the group with no points.