Much was made in the build-up of Dusan Tadic’s recall to the Serbia squad, yet he took less than four minutes to justify his selection by chasing a ball over the top from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic before crossing for Andrija Zivkovic to divert into the net.
Nevertheless, the Greek response was almost immediate, as Konstantinos Karetsas struck the post following Christos Tzolis’ cutback.
Close to the quarter-hour mark, Greece had their next chances; first, Vangelis Pavlidis forced Vanja Milinkovic-Savic into a smart save, before Charalampos Kostoulas failed to keep an effort down from a good position.
A timely Mihajlo Cvetkovic block denied Pavlidis as the Serbian penalty area continued to come under pressure until the midpoint of the first half.
Having weathered the storm, Orlovi wasted a golden opportunity to double their advantage as a mishit Strahinja Pavlovic fell perfectly for the unmarked Luka Jovic, who volleyed over from eight yards.
That display of poor finishing threatened to come back and haunt Serbia when Tzolis unleashed a first-time curling effort from 25 yards, only for V. Milinkovic-Savic to tip it away at full stretch and preserve his side’s lead at half-time.
The home goalkeeper was far less convincing early in the second half, flapping at a free-kick crossed into the box. However, he recovered to save from Panagiotis Retsos, and Serbia were soon breathing another sigh of relief when Pavlidis had a goal ruled out for offside.
Pavlidis, Karetsas and Fotis Ioannidis continued to pepper the Serbian goal after the hour mark, but the unbeatable shot-stopper had Galanolefki staring down the barrel of a fourth game in five this year without troubling the scoreboard.
But that all changed 14 minutes from time, when Pavlidis took down a ball chipped over the top and fed Tzolis, who gave V. Milinkovic-Savic no chance with a low shot onto the post and in.
Despite conceding, the late momentum appeared to swing back Serbia’s way.
However, after Dejan Joveljic struck the post from distance and Sasa Lukic’s header produced a brilliant stop from Konstantinos Tzolakis, it was the visitors who stole the points courtesy of Douvikas’ close-range header.
Following that cruel late blow, Veljko Paunovic’s side have not won a Nations League game for eight years, while Greece end a run of five away games without a triumph.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Christos Tzolis (Greece)