The Malta Under-21 side suffered its fifth successive defeat in Group 8 of the UEFA Under-19 Championship qualifiers after losing 0-3 to Romania at the Centenary Stadium on Tuesday.

Coach Silvio Vella welcomed back Jean Borg, Shaun Dimech and Paul Mbong after serving international duty with the senior national team.

The Romanians took the lead on the 7th minute when following a corner by Jan Busuttil which was blocked by goalkeeper Andrei Vlad, following a clearance, the ball reached Dennis Man who advanced all alone and rounded Ayrton Attard before hitting low past Timothy Aquilina.

Four minutes from the end of the second half, Romania doubled the score thanks to a penalty. It was a harsh decision by Hungarian referee Gergo Bogar who ordered a penalty after Zammit Lonardelli was adjudged to have fouled Mihaila in the box. Ionut Costache made no mistake from the penalty spot. 

Seven minutes from time, Romania scored the third goal when off a corner by substitute George Alexandre Cimpanu, Denis Harut failed to control the ball at first but still managed to hit past the Malta goalkeeper.

MALTA Timothy Aquilina, Jean Borg (20’ Carlo Zammit Lonardelli), Nicholas Pulis, Kurt Shaw, Shaun Dimech, Paul Mbong, Jan Busuttil (67’ Myles Beerman), Zak Grech, Alex Satariano, Nevin Portelli (46’ Andrei Spiteri), Ayrton Attard (84’ David Xuereb).

ROMANIA Andrei Daniel Vlad, Raul Marian Oprut, Virgil Ghita, Valentin Mihaila (73’ Alexandru Matan), Carlos Casap (57’ Andrei Ciobanu), Dennis Man (82’ George Alexandru Cimpanu), Marius Marin, Andrei Chindris, Denis Harut, Ionut Costache (73’ George Ganea), Darius Olaru (82’ Catalin Itu). 

Referee: Gergo Bogar (HUN)