Mitrovic left red faced after embarrassing Panenka penalty goes over the bar

Aleksandar Mitrovic went from hero to zero in Serbia's clash with Montenegro after missing a penalty trying to score a Panenka style chip.

Mitrovic's gaffe came just six minutes after scoring his side's second goal in the pivotal Nations League clash.

The Fulham striker had doubled the home side's lead over their close rivals with a deft close range volley.

But he wasted the opportunity to put the game beyond Montenegro before half-time.

Serbia were awarded a highly controversial penalty, with Nemanja Matic seemingly kicking the ground to win a spot-kick in the 38th minute. The incident was reminiscent of the penalty Raheem Sterling won for Manchester City against Shakhtar Donetsk earlier this month.

But although Mitrovic left the keeper, who dived down low to his right, beaten his chipped penalty down the centre embarrassingly lopped over the crossbar.

The former Newcastle United star was involved in another highly controversial moment in the game between his goal and penalty howler.

Ready to attack a corner kick, he was punched on the back of the head by Marko Simic, who incredibly was only booked for the incident.

Serbia took a 2-0 lead into the break at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade, with Adem Ljacic opening the scoring on the half-hour mark.

Despite a second half reply from Stefan Mugosa, Serbia held on to claim all three points in Belgrade, leaving them closing in on promotion to the Nations League second tier.

Serbia will be promoted later on Saturday if Romania, who have six points from four games, fail to beat visiting Lithuania in the 1945 GMT kick off. Lithuania have no points from four games and face almost certain relegation to League D.

Ljajic and Mitrovic, who also missed a penalty, put Serbia in the driving seat but they were forced to hang on after Stefan Mugosa pulled one back in the 70th minute.

The home side dominated the opening period and Ljajic fired them ahead in the 30th minute when he took a delightful Dusan Tadic through ball into his stride and beat goalkeeper Danijel Petkovic with a cool finish.

Mitrovic doubled the lead two minutes later with a superb header after twisting and turning in mid-air to meet a teasing Aleksandar Kolarov cross from the left.

After his missed penalty, Mitrovic then shaved the far post and forced a good save from Petkovic with headers in the closing stages of the first period as Montenegro struggled to break out of their own half.

Roared on by a small but noisy group of fans, Montenegro looked more purposeful after the break and striker Mogusa fired a thumping shot into the roof of the net from 10 metres.

Mirko Ivanic had Rajkovic at full stretch moments earlier and with their confidence restored, Montenegro came within inches of grabbing an equaliser barely a minute after they scored when Mugosa fired wide from 15 metres.

Predrag Rajkovic kept out two rasping long-range efforts as Serbia defended desperately in the last 15 minutes, triggering muted celebrations from the home crowd after the final whistle.