Malta U-15 hammer Georgia to clinch first win at European Championships

MALTA            21

GEORGIA        8

(4-3, 4-1, 6-1, 7-3)

The Malta U-15 waterpolo national team broke their duck at the European Championship finals in Portugal after brushing aside Georgia in the positional play-offs.

It was an historic victory for Malta U-15 in the continental finals and means that they are assured of avoiding bottom spot in the championship.

Anthony Farrugia’s boys may have lost all their group matches in Portugal so far, but the team had gave signs of their quality in each of their matches against Italy, Romania and Spain.

On Wednesday, the team finally got their act together with a prolific display which saw them completely tear apart the Georgians.

In fact, after a tight first session which saw the team just prevail 4-3, the Maltese players stepped up their game from the second quarter onwards, scoring consistently to take a commanding 8-4 lead when ends were changed.

In the third session, Malta were completely in command as they scored six goals and conceding just one to all but wrap up their victory with one session to spare.

The final eight minutes were simply academical as coach Anthony Farrugia managed to rest some of his units, but that failed to derail Malta’s momentum as they went on to add seven more goals to wrap up convincing victory.

Jayden Cutajar was without doubt the protagonist for Malta when he netted eight goals. Jayden Cassar and Elijah Schembri grabbed a hat-trick while Zak Cutajar Licari notched a brace. The other scorers for Malta were Luigi Dimech, Gabriel Bonavia, Dean Bugeja, Cain Cutajar and Lee Montebello Brownrigg.

MALTA: Dale Galea Mule, L. Dimech 1, I. Azzopardi, G. Bonavia 1, J. Cassar 3, D. Bugeja 1, Z. Cutajar Licari 2, J. Cutajar 8, E. Schembri 3, C. Cutajar 1, L. Montebello Brownrigg 1.