The Malta Under-21 national team lost 0-2 to Belarus in a friendly match at the Centenary Stadium on Wednesday.

Coach Ivan Woods handed Valletta’s Keyon Ewurum his debut with Sven Xerri and Leonardo Agius also making their first appearance as substitutes late in the game.

The visitors took the lead on 36 minutes when Nikita Baranok headed home from close range following a freekick.

Eight minutes in the second half, Belarus doubled the score courtesy of a Daniil Dushevskiy close-range header, off a cross from the right. 

The two teams will be meeting in another friendly match on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of Andre Farrugia / Malta FA

Malta Hugo Sacco (Matthias Debono 77), Mattias Ellul, Owen Spiteri (Sven Xerri 77), Jake Vassallo (Nathan Agius 88), Nicolai Micallef, Jake Micallef, Karl Mohnani (Kurt Briffa 77), Gianluca Sciberras (Andrew Borg 53), Andrea Zammit (Leonardo Agius 77), Keyon Ewurum, Mattia Veselji (Jale Engerer 53).

Belarus Arseniy Skopets, Arseniy Ageev, Nikita Baranok, Kirill Gomanov (Aleksey Dunaev 81), Vadim Martinkevich, Rodion Pechura (Nikita Krasnov 62), Artur Nazarenko (Nikita Burak 62), Daniil Dushevskiy (Aleksandr Guz 62), Pavel Kotlyarov (Ruslan Myalkovskiy 62), Vladislav Zhuravlev (Vladislav Varaksa 68), Trofim Melnichenko (Aleksandr Frantsuzov 68).

Referee Matthew Degabriele