Last-gasp Bosnia goal sinks Malta in Women’s Euro qualifiers

MALTA 0

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 1

Nikolic 88

Referee: Emily Heaslip (England FA).

Yellow cards: Aleksic, Lipman, Willis.

Malta’s bid for a first win in League B will continue next week after Manuela Tesse’s side lost at the death in their home qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday at the Centenary Stadium.

The two teams will meet in the second-round tie in Sarajevo, next Tuesday.

Following this defeat, Bosnia-Herzegovina pipped Malta to third place with three points while Malta slipped into the bottom of the standings with just one point after their opening three games.

After next week’s match, Malta will host Northern Ireland before taking on Portugal on away soil as they vie for a top-three finish which would guarantee them a play-off spot.

In a fairly balanced match, the two teams produced important chances to try and win this game, with Malta leaving a lot to be desired in their positive transitions which could have easily tilted the game to their favour.

However, Basel forward Milena Nikolic was the catalyst for her side’s victory, making the most of her imperious height (1.83m) to break Malta’s hearts in the dying minutes of the match.

Mġarr United goalkeeper Patricia Ebejer started between the sticks, replacing Birkirkara’s Janice Xuereb who is still recovering from an ACL injury.

Upfront, Swieqi United’s Jade Flask was given the nod, on her 65th appearance, with Venezia forward Kailey Willis, who collected her 10th cap for Malta in the previous game against Portugal, starting on the bench.

Inter player Haley Bugeja, as expected, was a starter as she made her 30th appearance for Malta.

Emma Lipman captained the side, forming a central defensive partnership with Stephania Farrugia – on her 99th appearance.

Dorianne Theuma, who bid farewell to the Beautiful Game after the match, started on the bench.

Bosnia-Herzegovina produced a fast start, pegging Malta into their own box as the home side was trying to make sure they avoided conceding an early goal in such an important tie.

Nonetheless, it was Malta who struck first towards goal when Bugeja’s effort was blocked by Bosnia goalkeeper Almina Hodzic.

Bosnia’s first chance came from the feet of Minela Gacanica whose low drive went wide from Ebejer.

The away side threatened again, this time through Amela Krso whose header glanced past Malta’s goal.

Gacanica sent shivers down Malta’s spine with a tight-angled effort but could find the target, five minutes before half-time.

Just before the break, Maria Farrugia tried her luck from close range but fired wide as both sides remained locked at goalless parity throughout the first half.

After the change of ends, Emina Ekic fired a long-range shot but was not enough to get the better of Ebejer.

Gacanica squandered a big chance to send Bosnia ahead but surprisingly, she sailed the ball over the bar from point-blank range.

Past the hour mark, Tesse replaced Malta’s number 9 personnel, with Willis coming on for Flask in a bid to bolster the attacking department.

Bosnia came close to forging ahead through Dajana Spasojevic, just to see her fierce strike go inches wide before Krso tried an effort on goal, but she also missed the target.

Five minutes from time, Farrugia darted into the box before firing over the bar to the despair of the home crowd.

At the other end of the field, Gloria Sliskovic found a path towards the box, and fired a shot but Ebejer was alert to avert the danger.

Moments later, Bosnia broke the deadlock when Krso whipped in a cross on which captain Nikolic connected with a towering header to beat Ebejer.