Andrea Zammit strikes late as Malta U-21 overcome Belarus in friendly

The Malta U-21 national team took sweet revenge over Belarus as the Maltese youngsters prevailed 1-0 in an international friendly at the Centenary Stadium.

The two countries were meeting each other for the second time in the space of a few days with Belarus coming out on top in the first meeting 2-0.

However, on Saturday, Ivan Woods’ boys were determined to bounce back from that setback, and the Maltese outfit looked more composed and disciplined throughout the match.

In the end, it was Andrea Zammit who turned out to be the team’s hero when converting a late penalty to hand the team a much-needed win.

The first half turned out to be a balanced affair with Malta coming close through Andy Borg but his effort finished just wide.

The visitors responded through efforts by Mikita Burak and Ruslan Mialkouski, who, however, failed to hit the target.

On the stroke of half-time Borg came agonisingly close to find the breakthrough but his shot skimmed the upright.

After the break, the match lost much of its intensity and was only in the final stages when the match was finally decided.

Nine minutes from time, Belarus had Zhurauliou dismissed and the Maltese seemed to take advantage of their numerical advantage when on 82 minutes they were awarded a penalty but goalkeeper Karatai blocked Mattia Veselji’s shot.

But two minutes, later the hosts were awarded a second penalty when substitute Andrea Zammit was floored inside the area and the Birkirkara forward picked himself up to convert from the spot and hand his team a morale-boosting win.