Dutch’s late rally floors Malta U-19 in Euro Championship opener

Malta 8

Netherlands 15

(3-2, 5-4, 3-1, 4-1)

The Malta U-19 waterpolo national team lost their opening match in the European Championships final when they went down to the Netherlands 15-8 in Burgas on Sunday.

The Maltese youngsters, coached by Milan Cirovic, were in the match for much of the opening two quarters. But then the Dutch stepped up a gear in the final two sessions to secure a comfortable victory.

Jayden Cutajar was Malta’s leading scorer with five goals.

The Netherlands were off to a strong start as they surged into a two-goal lead courtesy of two goals from Hugo Wouters. But the Maltese fought back and goals from Alec Fenech, from penalty, and Jayden Cutajar, through a man-up set levelled matters.

Wouters had the final say to put the Dutch 3-2 ahead.

The second session remained evenly poised with the Maltese trying to counter everything their opponents threw at them.

Two goals from Jayden Cutajar put them just one goal behind at 6-5. The Netherlands then struck twice without reply to open a three-goal advantage.

But Cutajar struck at the death so that he bridged the gap to 8-6 when the ends were changed.

Fenech pulled the Maltese just one goal behind but that was as good as it got as the Netherlands went on to score three times without reply to lead 11-7 with one session to go.

The Netherlands were in full flow now as they managed to add four goals to their tally to all but kill off their opponents.

Fenech netted Malta’s eighth goal but it was too little too late.

Today, Malta face Turkey in another tough test after the latter brushed aside France 15-9 in the opening match.