POLAND 2
Swiderski 27, 51
MALTA 0
POLAND
L. Skorupski, J. Bednarek (46 M. Wieteska), J. Moder, S. Szymanski, K. Swiderski, J. Kaminski (87 B. Berezynski), J. Kiwior, K. Piatkowski, P. Frankowski (66 M. Cash), M. Bogusz (46 B. Slisz), K. Piatek (66 R. Lewandowski).
MALTA
H. Bonello, R. Camenzuli, J. Carragher, M. Guillaumier, J. Mbong (66 A. Magri Overend), I. Chouaref, T. Teuma, E. Pepe (83 J. Borg), P. Mbong, Z. Muscat (58 C. Zammit Lonardelli), A. Satariano (58 B. Tuma).
Referee: Morten Krogh (Denmark).
Yellow cards: Muscat, Frankowski, Slisz, Tuma, Chouaref.
Karol Swiderski lifted the spirits of the Polish fans as the Panathinaikos forward scored a well-taken brace to lead his team to a comfortable victory over Malta in a World Cup qualifier in Warsaw last night.
The Polish side, after their lacklustre showing in a 1-0 win over Lithuania last week, were desperate to give their fans something to shout about against arguably the weakest team in the group.
And the home side did deliver the goods with a dominant performance against a battling Maltese side but it had to be Swiderski who swayed the match in favour of the hosts with a well-taken brace to hand Poland their second successive win in the group.
On the other hand, Malta did try to provide a stern challenge to their more-quoted opponents and were in the match for much of the first half.
But once Poland doubled their advantage just after the restart, the home side grew in stature and could have easily scored a more pronounced victory had it not been for some fantastic saves from Malta goalkeeper Henry Bonello.
In the end, Malta conceded their second successive defeat that leaves them without a win and a goal scored at the bottom of Group G after Lithuania held Finland to a 2-2 earlier in the day.
Malta coach Emilio De Leo effected one change to the team that performed admirably against Finland as Enrico Pepe was given the nod to replace the suspended Kurt Shaw, otherwise the side remained unchanged.
Poland, coach Michal Probierz opted to start without his star striker Robert Lewandowski who was included among the substitutes.
The Barcelona star was replaced after suffering an injury in Poland’s 1-0 win over Lithuania and although he trained with the rest of his team-mates, Probierz decided not to take risks and opted for former Milan forward Krzysztof Piatek.
Aston Villa’s Matty Cash was also dropped to the bench at the expense of Jakub Kaminski on the right flank.
As expected Poland started strongly and after four minutes Jakub Kaminski showed great skill to dribble past three Maltese defenders before hitting an angled drive that flashed just wide.
Malta responded two minutes later when Ilyas Chouaref initiated a quick transition when he sped through the Polish defence and his thumping drive was turned to a corner by goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.
On 14 minutes, a miscommunication in the Malta backline saw Carragher caught off the guard in came Mateus Bogusz who sped through but was denied by the onrushing Henry Bonello.
The Maltese looked to be containing well the Poles but that all changed on 27 minutes when the hosts took the lead.
Bednarek dispossessed Paul Mbong, with the ball falling to Frankowski whose low cross was deviated by Bonello away from Carragher who was set to clear and the ball fell to Swiderski who had the easiest of tasks to fire into an empty net.
Chouaref remained Malta’s main source of threat and the FC Sion winger threatened again on 34 minutes with a solo run and his shot just whizzed the upright.
At the other end, Bonello had to be at his best to turn to a corner Karol Swiderski’s shot.
Despite being a man down, Malta still pushed forward and on 37 minutes Carragher won possession in midfield and hit a thumping drive that was pushed away by Skorupski.
Bonello was decisive for Malta just before half-time when first he pushed away Bogusz shot and then the Ħamrun goalkeeper denied Kiwior from close in as the home side were looking for a second goal.
After the break, De Leo effected one change as he brought on Kyrian Nwoko for Paul Mbong in a bid to give fresh impetus to his forward line.
Poland took little time to double their lead as on 51 minutes Zielinski anticipated Satariano and he quickly teed up Swiderski who fired home with a low shot.
On the hour mark, De Leo withdrew Zach Muscat and Satariano and roped in Carlo Zammit Lonardelli and Basil Tuma to add more speed to his team’s play.
But the home side continued to press on the accelerator and on 59 minutes Bonello was at his best to keep out Moder’s shot.
Probierski was clearly keen to add more goal and on 65 minutes he roped in Robert Lewandowski and Matty Cash for Piatek and Frankowski.
Bonello produced his best save of the match on 71 minutes when he showed great reflexes to keep out Swiderski’s effort from close in.
Swiderski had another chance to complete his hat-trick on 76 minutes but he failed to connect to Matty Cash’s cross-shot.
Bonello was again on top form on 78 minutes when he denied Kaminski who was put clear on goal by the excellent Swiderski.
Malta finally threatened on 86 minutes and it was again Chouaref who was denied by Skorupski as Poland strolled to victory.
Malta ended the match with ten men for a second successive match when Chouaref was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Wieteska and is now ruled out of June’s key clash against Lithuania.
