Departing Heese happy to end 'hard road' on a high

The clock marks 70 minutes of the game gone. Bulgaria look odds-on to deny Horst Heese a happy farewell to his second coaching spell as Malta coach after Chavdar Yankov headed home midway into the second half to give them a 1-0 lead.

Etienne Barbara is thrown in the fray by the German coach in the hope of boosting Malta's chances of salvaging the game.

The Birkirkara forward, who has been plagued by a nagging injury for the past eight weeks, takes up an attacking role alongside Andrew Cohen.

Malta's new striking partnership presents fresh problems to the tiring Bulgarian defenders who suddenly look in trouble to cope with the pace of Cohen and Barbara.

Such indications prove correct as seven minutes after his introduction for the enterprising Ivan Woods, Barbara indulges in a one-two with Cohen and after taking advantage of a deflection, fires the ball past the helpless Kolev.

The crowd of 6,500 spectators erupts with delight. Bulgaria try in vain to reclaim their advantage as the revitalised Malta players hold firm.

In the dying moments, the red-shirted players even threaten a dramatic winner but the rampaging Barbara twice fails to make the most of the space conceded by the stunned Bulgarians.

At the final whistle, scenes of joy are witnessed at the National Stadium as the Maltese players do our country proud with their third successive positive result on home soil against more-quoted opponents after 1-1 draws against Northern Ireland (friendly) and Croatia (World Cup).

Wednesday's match marked the end of an era as it was Heese's final appearance as coach of the Maltese national team. His contract with the Malta Football Association expires in December.

It has to be said that Heese's second spell in charge of the national team has been riddled with difficulties. The German had to withstand intense criticism for his decisions to alter the team's tactical approach and drop several established players from the national team set-up.

Some of the results achieved by Malta over the last two years increased the scepticism around the national team who slumped to heavy defeats to Sweden (0-7, 0-6), Bulgaria (1-4) and Germany (0-7) before they came up with a grand finale.

"It has been a long and hard road to arrive at this level," an emotional Heese told the media after the match.

"When I took over, I had the courage to change many things. New players were called to the squad and the team gradually began to show progress.

"Performances improved steadily but most of our results were anything but satisfying, leading to strong criticism from many quarters.

"But, I guess this is part of the job," Heese added. "I stuck to my plans and little by little, we began to rectify our deficiencies.

"Now, we have reached a stage where we can safely say that Malta can bank on an excellent group of players who can achieve better results in the future."

Heese said that Wednesday's 1-1 draw against Bulgaria provided further proof that the improvement shown by the national team in their previous three appearances was anything but coincidental. The results of late have gone some way to justifying the long hours of training put in by the players in recent weeks.

Bulgaria pressure

"The players were simply superb," the Malta coach said.

"As Bulgaria began very aggressively, I was concerned that our players would find it hard to endure that frantic pace for the whole match. But every member of the team did very well, especially in the first 45 minutes where I felt we matched them in every department.

"I have heard that their coach has lamented about a lack of motivation from his players but I disagree. They made it very difficult for us to control them, especially in the opening 20 minutes of the second half and it was during that period that they scored.

"This game was not easy for us," Heese continued. "We were without some key players in midfield like Gilbert Agius and Orosco Anonam while Massimo Grima was not fit enough to start the match.

"However, their replacements, George Mallia, Roderick Briffa and Peter Pullicino did very well even if some of them were not playing in their favourite position."

Heese was also delighted with the character displayed by his players in hitting back after conceding a goal.

"The team's character is growing," he said. "In the last three home games, Malta produced their best football in the most difficult moments of the match.

"Despite being a goal down, the boys kept trying and gained an equaliser after a fine move. Actually, I felt that in the end we could have even won the match with more composure in attack. Nonetheless, a draw is a great result."

Now that Heese is stepping down, what will happen to this squad?

"I believe there is a bright future for this team," the Malta coach emphasised. "The next coach will find a united group of players who are ready to work hard for each other.

"I have already spoken to MFA president Dr Joe Mifsud about my ideas for the future of the team. Even though I will be leaving Malta soon, I will be more than willing to give my advice on anything the MFA or the players might need in the future."

Fans gave us a boost - Said

Malta's 1-1 draw with Croatia last month definitely helped to diminish the indifference local fans have shown towards the national team in recent years.

The presence of thousands of Maltese supporters on Wednesday made a significant difference to the players as skipper-of-the-day Brian Said acknowledged.

"I would like to thank the thousands of people who came to support us," the Sliema defender said.

"Their non-stop cheering was crucial. They were without doubt our 12th player. I'm sure they returned home happy... this positive result is dedicated to them.

"I sincerely hope that they continue to follow the national team and we promise to do our best to give them more memorable nights like we experienced today (Wednesday)."