Futsal: Malta beat Gibraltar in friendly match

futsal-gibraltar-malta140109The Malta Futsal national team defeated Gibraltar 4-2 in the second of two friendly matches at the Tercentenary Hall in Gibraltar.

With a sizeable crowd supporting the home team, Malta also had its fair share of support, with a group of Maltese working in Gibraltar or Spain attending the match and cheering throughout the game.

A determined Malta side, attacked aggressively from the initial stages of the game with the clear aim of imposing their game on the opponents. With the game mostly played in the Gibraltarian half pitch, Malta dominated the first half, with Xavier Saliba, Giancarlo Sammut and Cedric Sciberras testing the Gibraltar goalie repeatedly. Against the run of play, Gibraltar opened the score through Jamie Walker but Malta soon levelled the score through Giancarlo Sammut, on the 10th minute.

Gibraltar came out stronger in the initial stages of the second half, and nearly took the lead after Malta goalie Brian Baldacchino mis-timed his effort to clear off an incoming attack but the shot went just wide. For the next 15 minutes Malta regained full control of the game and scored two goals in the third minute, once again through Giancarlo Sammut, and seconds later through Jovica Milijic. Mark Zammit and Brian Deguara worked relentlessly in midfield to hold the Gibraltar attacks, who were now mounting the pressure to save the game, but Rennie Tanti added a fourth goal for Malta, putting the away team in a more comfortable position with few minutes to go. Gibraltar reduced the margin in the dying minutes of the game once again through Andrew Lopez.

In the first friendly on Thursday, Malta lost 4-3. Malta’s next international commitments will be the Futsal EURO qualifiers next September.