Slovakia hold too much firepower for Malta U-21 to ease home in international friendly

MALTA              1

Veselji 54

SLOVAKIA        4

Veselovsky 7

Tucny 43

Sauer 66

Gajdos 90

MALTA M. Debono (88 R. Cini) , Z. Leonardi, M. Veselji (82 J. Engerer), D. Scicluna, A. Garzia, K. Briffa (46 K. Mohnani), A. Borg (88 M. Debattista), B. Tuma, K. Bondin (68 A. Zammit).

SLOVAKIA T. Fruhwald, T. Jasso, M. Gomola (61 D. Javorcek), A. Gazi (46 A. Selecky), M. Svidersky (61 A. Gajdos), R. Cerepkai (46 T. Jambor), A. Tucny (46 N. Marcelli), F. Mielke, D. Veselovsky, S. Kopasek (61 A. Kapralik), J. Murgas.

Referee Fyodor Zammit.

Yellow cards Engerer, Marcelli.

Red cards Cini (M) 90; Marcelli (S) 90.

Slovakia’s superior scoring prowess proved the difference as they eased to a 4-1 win over Malta’s U-21 in an international friendly at the Tony Bezzina Stadium.

The Maltese youngsters tried to mount a serious challenge against their superior opponents and showed great character to fight back after slumping two goals down at the end of the first half.

In fact, Mattia Veselji’s goal early on the restart revived Malta’s hopes of a positive result but their failure to take their chances came back to haunt as Slovakia added two more goals to secure a comfortable win.

During the first half, the Maltese were struggling to come out of their area with their ball in their feet as Slovakia’s high pressing was seeing the hosts lose the ball just outside their box, but luckily the visitors failed to punish them as much.

The Slovakians took the lead after seven minutes when Adam Gazi sped clear on the right and his cross found Roman Cerepkai who was brilliantly denied by Matthias Debono but from the rebound, Dominik Veselovsky hammered home.

Slovakia threatened to add a second goal on 23 minutes when from a free-kick, Toma Jasso was left unmarked at the far post but his header finished just over.

On 32 minutes, Malta had a good opportunity to equalise when from a Dylan Scicluna free-kick, the ball fell to Mattia Veselji on the edge of the area but his shot flew wide.

Five minutes from the break, Veselji seized on some hesitant defending from the visitors to race through but the Floriana striker was closed down by the Slovak defenders before he could pull the trigger.

The Maltese were punished for a second time two minutes from the break when Samuel Kopasek raced through the right flank before squaring the ball into the path of Adam Tucny who had little trouble pushing the ball into an empty net.

Malta tried to fight back after the interval and they managed to pull a goal back on 54 minutes when Basil Tuma raced clear on the right before teeing up Veselji who fired home.

On 65 minutes, Malta had the chance to level terms when a long ball was played into the path of Veselji but Slovakia goalkeeper Thomas Fruhwald rushed out of his area to head the ball away to safety.

However, two minutes later, Slovakia killed off the match when Mario Sauer picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and hit a thumping drive that gave no chance to Debono.

The Maltese looked rattled and three minutes later the visitors could have added a fourth when Zean Leonardi lost his balance when in possession but Alexander Selecky incredibly failed to score with just Debono to beat.

Goalkeeper Reeves Cini replaced Mathias Debono in goal with two minutes to goal but the young goalkeeper’s stay on the pitch was shortlived.

This was because two minutes later, he was beaten by Artur Gajdos who scored directly from a free-kick. After the goal, the Slovakians went to pick up the ball from inside the net and a melee ensued between both sets of players with Cini hitting an opponent.

Here, referee Fyodor Zammit sent off the Malta goalkeeper as well as Slovakia’s Nino Marcelli who received his marching orders.