The Malta women’s national team ended its commitments in Group E of the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers on a positive note thanks to a 2-0 win over Montenegro at the Camp FSCG in Podgorica on Tuesday.
Malta ended its commitments in joint-fourth place with Azerbaijan on seven points after the latter held Bosnia and Herzegovina in a 1-1 draw in another match on Tuesday. This was the largest number of points collected by Malta in a World Cup qualifying campaign.
This win turned out to be a great farewell for coach Mark Gatt who steps down after spending fifteen years with the women’s national team, first as assistant coach and then as coach.
Malta took the lead on the 28th minute when Maria Farrugia advanced on the left and although a Montenegro defender tried to stop her run, the ball bounced onto Farrugia who entered the area before hitting home past Krstovic.
Just before the end of the first half, Malta doubled the score courtesy of Emma Lipman who exchanged the ball with Haley Bugeja before hitting low past the Montenegro goalkeeper from close range.
Late in the game, Malta could have added another but substitute Brenda Borg’s effort was deflected by a defender onto the crossbar.
MONTENEGRO Anastasija Krstovic (46′ Asja Kalac), Aleksandra Popovic, Maja Saranovic, Tanja Malesija (46′ Nadja Djurdjevac), Jasna Djokovic (89′ Sara Simonovic), Medina Desic, Jelena Karlicic, Jelena Vujadinovic (46′ Andrea Janjusevic), Jovana Saric, Helena Bozic, Darija Djukic (79′ Nikolina Cakovic).
MALTA Janice Xuereb, Ann-Marie Said, Emma Lipman, Stephania Farrugia, Dorianne Theuma, Rachel Cuschieri (58′ Brenda Borg), Maria Farrugia, Shona Zammit, Charlene Zammit (56′ Alishia Sultana), Maia Melanie Debono (46′ Nicole Sciberras), Haley Bugeja.
Referee: Kirsty Dowle ENG
Assistant referees: Emily Carney, Sophie Dennington ENG
Fourth official: Louise Saunders ENG