Solid Malta hold Northern Ireland to draw in Women’s Euro qualifying opener

NORTHERN IRELAND  0

MALTA                                  0

NORTHERN IRELAND
J. Burns; R. McKenna, L. Rafferty, D. Vance, C. McCarron, N. Caldwell, J. Andrews (58 K. Halliday), C. Hamilton (72 C. Schofield), M. Callaghan (58 M. Bell), S. Magill, L. Wade (89 E. Wilson).

MALTA
J. Xuereb; C. Zammit, S. Farrugia, E. Lipman (72 V. Rapa), A. Said, S. Zammit, R. Cuschieri, B. Borg, A. Sultana, M. Farrugia, H. Bugeja (90 N. Sciberras).

Referee: Maria Marotta (Italy FA).

Yellow cards: Bell.

A resilient Malta side managed to hold Northern Ireland to a draw on Friday and snatch a point in their opening game of UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 qualifiers.

Manuela Tesse’s team started their historic League B campaign with an away game at Belfast’s Windsor Park and put on a gutsy showing against a team ranked 46th in the world.

Their defensive solidity certainly bodes well for the remainder of this campaign starting from next Tuesday’s highly-anticipated encounter against group favourites Portugal.

Inter forward Haley Bugeja led the attacking line alongside Maria Farrugia of Lewes, who was facing her club team-mate Caragh Hamilton, and Alishia Sultana.

Bugeja was the second-best scorer in the Nations League with eight goals and is looking to repeat that form during the League B commitments.

Sampdoria’s Rachel Cuschieri, who led the assists charts in the Nations League with six, started in midfield alongside Brenda Borg of Mġarr United and Shona Zammit who is on the books of Swieqi United.

Charlene Zammit, also of Birkirkara, was assigned the right-back role in the absence of Swieqi United’s Emma Xuereb while Ann-Marie Said, another Birkirkara player, started in her usual left-back position.

Birkirkara’s goalkeeper Janice Xuereb started between the sticks for the 66th time.

Northern Ireland, on their part, started in a 3-5-2 formation with Aston Villa’s Simone Magill upfront alongside Lauren Wade of Reading Women.

Northern Ireland’s defender Rebecca McKenna missed the target after just four minutes as the hosts were looking for an early lead.

The Northern Irish were trying to pile the pressure on the Maltese side from the early stages even though they were not creating any serious threats, with Tesse’s defensive plan paying dividends.

Midfielder Chloe McCarron tried her luck with a long-range effort but failed to beat Xuereb.

Despite dominating proceedings, Northern Ireland were not able to muster more chances until finding the net just before half-time.

However, Simone Magill’s goal from inside the area was disallowed by Italian referee Maria Marotta for an apparent handball by the Irish forward.

After the change of ends, Malta made no changes and midfielder Shona Zammit let fly a firm strike from the edge of the area just to glance past Jackie Burns’ goal.

Just before the hour mark, Northern Ireland made a couple of changes to bolster their attack with the inclusion of Megan Bell and Keri Halliday.

On the other hand, Tesse was forced to replace Alishia Sultana after picking up an apparent hamstring strain with Venezia forward Kailey Willis coming on.

Stephania Farrugia came close to putting Malta ahead after connecting with a Cuschieri corner-kick, only to see her effort go inches wide.

Italian coach Tesse had to make another substitution due to an injury problem when Valentina Rapa replaced captain Emma Lipman after the Como Women player was struggling with a calf issue.

In the final stages, Xuereb came to Malta’s rescue with a brilliant save to deny McCarron who struck a long-range shot as the hosts remained hopeful of a late goal.

Late on, Northern Ireland continued to introduce more forwards but it was Malta who controlled the final minutes of the match to make sure of their first point in League B.