Malta and Bulgaria shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in an Under-19 international friendly match at the Malta FA Training Grounds on Monday.

Bulgaria started as the better of the two sides, having most of the ball, yet Malta proved to be dangerous on the break. The Bulgarian pressure continued to build but Malta held on, and even had to clear the ball off the line on one occasion.

Malta gradually grew into the game as the half wore on, with Liam Delicata and Keyon Ewurum finding more space in behind the Bulgarian defence, but still could not muster a clear-cut opportunity. Bulgaria continued to push on, and the best chance of the half came from a cross which was flicked narrowly wide by Emil Naydenov.

Malta came out flying after the break, winning more of the 50-50 challenges on the ball. Their effort was then rewarded, as after a short backpass from the Bulgarian defence, Nicholas Agius stole the ball, rounded the goalkeeper, and slotted the ball calmly into the empty net to give Malta the lead.

The game then started to heat up, with more tackles flying in, leading to a flurry of yellow cards being shown.

In one instance, Bulgaria looked to capitalise when Malta lost the ball in midfield, yet a close range effort was saved by James Sissons. The equaliser eventually came for Bulgaria in the 85th minute, as Valentin Dotsev curled a wonderful free-kick to make it 1-1.

Bulgaria were through on goal again in stoppage time, yet Sissons once again made himself big and denied the opposition with a brilliant save to keep the score level.

This means that Malta have drawn both friendlies against Bulgaria during this international break, after last Saturday’s goalless encounter.

Malta
1 James Sissons (GK), 2 Nicholas Briffa, 3 Kydin Hili (17 Shaun Xiberras, 78′), 4 Lucas Okeke (14 Antiago De Flavia, 78′), 5 Kean Scicluna, 6 Aiden Zammit, 7 Peter Ohaka (13 Shaun Carabott, 67′), 8 Benjamin Cassar, 9 Keyon Ewurun (19 Kai Bartolo, 45′), 10 Liam Delicata (22 Thomas Melillo, 55′), 11 Nicholas Agius (C).

Coach: Paul Gatt

Bulgaria
12 Aleksandar Andreev (GK), 5 Mihail Polendakov, 10 Valentin Dotsev, 4 Viktor Lyubenov, 6 Ivaylo Videv (C) (8 Dzhaner Sadetinov, 20′), 7 Konstantin Dimitrov (14 Aleksandar Marinov, 60′), 15 Bozhidar Petrov, 17 Vasil Kaymakanov, 19 Emil Naydenov, 22 Veliyan Vidolov (2 Deyvid Mihalev, 60′), 18 Kubrat Onasci (11 Adrian Raychev, 60′).