Women’s national team beats Bolton Ladies in friendly match

The Malta women’s selection defeated Women’s National League Division One side Bolton Ladies 2-1 in a friendly match at the MFA Training Grounds on Saturday. 

This friendly match was part of the women’s national team’s preparation ahead of the Women’s EURO qualifiers which kick-off in August. Malta faces Denmark on August 29 and Bosnia Herzegovina on September 3 in two matches away from home before hosting Italy on October 4 and Israel on November 7. The last game for 2019 will be against Italy on November 12 away from home.

Apart from Nicole Sciberras who plays for Grifone Gialloverde and Martina Borg who plays for Fortiduo Mozzacane in Italy and Sunderland’s Maria Farrugia, Malta coach Mark Gatt had two new faces at his disposal – goalkeeper Anna Vincenti of Motherwell and AS Roma defender Emma Lipman.

The Maltese girls took the lead late in the first half through Ylenia Carabott before Haley Bugeja doubled the score in the early stages of the second.

Bolton pulled one back in the closing stages thanks to Ruby Howard but Mark Gatt’s team held on to claim victory.

MALTA Anna Vincenti (77 Patricia Ebejer), Emma Lipman (55 Nicole Sciberras), Stephania Farrugia, Jasine Vella Turner, Anne-Marie Said (46′ Charlene Cassia), Dorianne Theuma, Shona Zammit (46′ Veronique Mifsud), Brenda Borg (46′ Haley Bugeja), Maria Farrugia (60′ Martina Borg), Alishia Sultana (68′ Simone Buttigieg), Ylenia Carabott (46′ Kailey Willis).