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Malta U-21 suffer narrow defeat in Hungary

HUNGARY            2
Nemeth 13
Gruber 25

MALTA       1
Zammit 48 pen.

Gianluca Lia

HUNGARY

A.Pecsi; A. Yaakobishvili, M. Csinger, G. Komaromi (88 B. Vajda), P. Barath, A. Nemeth, M. Koszovsky, M. Okeke (63 T. Szucs), B. Benczenleitner, M. Vitalis (63 C. Denes), Z. Gruber (63 D. Kocsis).

MALTA

H. Sacco; Z. Leonardi (85 K. Mohnani), O. Spiteri, M. Veselji, A. Zammit (71 M. Debattista), M. Ellul (85 N. Micallef), J. Micallef, S. Xerri, A. Borg, K. Bondin, I. Chukunyere (82 J. Engerer).

Referee Mervan Bejtullahu (Kosovo FA).

Yellow cards Csinger, Pecsi, Veselji, Debattista.

Despite a valiant effort in Hungary, the Malta U-21 national team suffered their seventh defeat in the European Championship qualifiers.

After conceding two first-half goals, captain Andrea Zammit netted early in the second half to pull a goal back, but it wasn’t enough to spark a comeback or secure a point.

Malta remains at the bottom of the group without a point and will face group leaders Spain in their final qualifier on Tuesday.

Hungary came close to taking an early lead when Andras Nemeth’s close-range header narrowly missed Malta’s goal.

In the 10th minute, Hungary breathed a sigh of relief as Mark Csinger brought down Mattias Veselji but was only shown a yellow card, despite appearing to deny the Maltese forward a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

From the ensuing free-kick, Matthias Ellul forced a save from the Hungarian goalkeeper, with Jake Micallef firing the rebound over the bar.

However, just moments later, Nemeth gave Hungary the lead with a superb strike from the edge of the box.

The hosts doubled their lead through Zsombor Gruber who beat Sacco with a fierce low drive as the Hungarians were in the driving seat to secure a comfortable win.

Malta captain Andrea Zammit replied with a long-range effort, which the goalkeeper hesitated to save before rolling out for a corner kick.

Nemeth squandered a brilliant chance to extend Hungary’s lead, having miskicked the ball from close-range.

Just a minute later, he had a shot cleared by Malta’s backline as Hungary continued to pile up the pressure on Ivan Woods’ side.

Despite their increased efforts, Hungary could not extend their lead as they entered at half-time with a two-goal advantage.

After the restart, Malta was immediately given a lifeline to pull themselves into the game when Veselji was tripped by the Hungarian goalkeeper, earning a penalty.

Zammit made no mistake from the spot as Malta scored their fourth goal of the campaign.

Hungary were keen to restore their two-goal lead but Nemeth managed to waste another chance, seeing his effort cleared on the goal line from point-blank range.

The hosts could not find the net again while Malta were looking to stage a late rally in search of a leveller, which at the end did not come as Wood’s selection had to succumb to a narrow loss.

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