Wales too strong for Miller's lads

Malta 0
Wales 4

Malta U-21 slumped to their sixth defeat in the UEFA Championship qualifiers yesterday when they were beaten by a superior Wales side at the Hibs Ground.

The Maltese, who came into the match on the back of a 2-1 win over Bosnia in November, had fancied their chances of a second positive result in Group 10. However, Wales had no plans to halt their impressive stride in the group even though they had to wait until the 62nd minute to open their account.

Mark Miller's lads tried hard to stay in the game but once Chedwyn Evans put the visitors ahead, it was one-way traffic. Malta stay bottom of the standings with three points. They complete their group commitments in September with a trip to France.

Wales are now top of the group with 12 points from five matches. They are one point ahead of Romania and France. Les Bleus have played a game more.

Wales made all the running early on with the Maltese looking to minimise the threat posed by Joseph Allen and Shaun Macdonald from the flanks.

Samuel Vokes came close to an early breakthrough but his header just missed the upright.

On 22 minutes Vokes connected to another Macdonald cross but, again, the Welsh forward hit wide.

Malta almost took the lead against the run of play on 33 minutes when in a swift break Ryan Fenech's delivery somehow finished in Ian Zammit's path but the Valletta striker's grounder flashed past the upright.

Wales came agonisingly close on 43 minutes when from a Jacobson corner, Jack Collison's firm header almost had the better of Miguel Montfort.

After the interval, Wales withdrew Aaron Ramsey. He made way for Jonathan Brown who was making his first appearance for the Welsh team.

That change seemed to click the visitors into gear as four minutes later they took the lead. The clock marked 62 minutes when from a Macdonald free-kick, Evans anticipated Montfort to head the ball into the net.

The Maltese were clearly finding it difficult to pose any threat to the Welsh and it was no surprise when 17 minutes from time Miller withdrew Steve Meilaq and Matthew Bartolo who were replaced by Ben Camilleri and Tyrone Farrugia.

However, any hopes Malta might have had to put themselves back in the match were killed off on 80 minutes when Edward Herrera failed to clear Brown's cross and in came substitute Simon Church who rammed the ball home.

The match had little else to offer for the Maltese who suffered a third goal two minutes from time when Collison profited from some hesitant defending from Steve Bezzina to rifle the ball past Montfort.

The Welsh sealed the points in stoppage time. Failla tripped Evans in the box and the Welsh striker made no mistake from the penalty spot.

Malta: M. Montfort, E. Herrera, C. Failla, J. Caruana, S. Bezzina, P. Fenech, M. Bartolo ('73 T. Farrugia), S. Meilak ('73 B. Camilleri), I. Zammit ('88 M. Scerri), R. Fenech, D. Falzon.

Wales: O. Williams, D. Blake, J. Jacobson, J. Collison, R. Williams, J. Allen ('83 A. King), A. Ramsey ('58 J. Brown), S. Vokes ('70 S. Church), C. Evans, S. Macdonald, M. Williams.

Referee: Luc Wilmes (Luxembourg).

Scorers: Evans 62, 90 pen; Church 80; Collison 88.

Yellow cards: R. Fenech, P. Fenech, Bezzina, Zammit, Allen, Camilleri, Church, Ramsey.