Tomsk striker Pogrebnyak scored the only goal of the tie at Lokomotiv Moscow's 32,000-seater stadium to boost morale three weeks ahead of Russia's opening Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia.

Hiddink took over after guiding Australia into the last 16 round of the World Cup this summer.

But the 59-year-old Dutchman opted against any revolutionary changes picking a set of field-tested players for his starting line-up.

Russia seized the initiative from the outset, pinning their rivals back, but to no immediate effect as Latvia defended stoutly and the hosts' lacked accuracy.

After the break Russia still dominated, but failed to find the net though Roman Pavlyuchenko, Andrei Arshavin and Igor Semshov all had chances.

Dynamo Kiev striker Maris Verpakovskis also had a clear opportunity to put Latvia ahead in the 69th minute but failed to send the ball into unguarded net after he escaped an offside trap and Russian goalie Igor Akinfeyev looked beaten.

But Russia scraped out the victory in the third minute of injury time when Pogrebnyak fired home from seven metres out to finish off a Pavlyuchenko header.