England overpower Malta

Malta Amateurs XI made their debut in the international scene in 1959 for the qualifying rounds of the 1960 Olympic Games. Three years later, the team took part in the Mediterranean Games.

In those days, these tournaments were still restricted to pure amateur players and Malta did not fare badly.

In 1964, the national amateur team took part in the Liguria Tournament which was organised by UEFA. Then, in 1969-70, the team participated in the second UEFA tournament and was placed in the Mediterranean group together with Italy and Greece.

Malta gave a good account of themselves in this tournament, earning a prestigious 1-0 victory over Greece at the stadium and a 1-1 home draw against Italy.

Malta took part again in the competition in 1973-74. This time, however, the story was much different as Malta drew West Germany and England in their group. This meant that Malta had no realistic chance of advancing further in the competition and also risked becoming the chopping block of these two giants of world football.

Scepticism greeted the outcome of the draw and to a certain extent, it was justified. Malta did not win a single point from their commitments but our players were certainly not slaughtered by their more-quoted opponents.

I remember only one game from the series of four Malta played in this competition. This was the home game against England which was played on December 5, 1973 at the Gzira Stadium.

Memories of the European Championship encounter with mighty England were still fresh in the minds of the Maltese and, as might have been expected, this game created a lot of excitement. However, when all things are said, there was really very little to remember about this game especially regarding Malta's performance.

Against England, Malta just showed that they did not live in the same world. The English, although hampered by the hard ground of the stadium, were faster, more skilful and certainly fitter than their opponents.

They tackled hard, attacked with speed from the back and then funnelled back into their penalty area whenever danger loomed.

Not that there was much danger to the English goal. In fact, it was only very late in the game that the English goalkeeper, Swannell, was forced to tip for a corner a header by the late Ritchie Aquilina.

It was the same player who, a few minutes later, brought the best out of Swannell with a rasping shot from just outside the area. Malta started the game quite briskly. The first thrill came in the third minute when Vincent 'Maxi' Magro crossed perfectly to the centre of the English penalty area but both Peter Langridge and Tony Giglio failed to execute the finishing touch.

The English, however, soon adapted to the conditions. In the 11th minute, they won a corner and from the resultant kick, Preston flicked the ball past Robert Gatt.

Malta tried to hit back and soon after the restart, Giglio just missed the target with an insidious first-timer. In the 20th minute Butterfield crossed to the other flank, Pritchard controlled the ball and flashed it into the path of the onrushing Rutherford who fired home.

At this stage Malta brought on Peter Galea for John Galea and then replaced Langridge with Roy Callus.

However, no sooner had the Zebbug Rangers player come on, that Giglio was hurt in a tackle with Day and since in those days only two substitutes were allowed Malta had to plough on with 10 men. However, the Maltese somehow managed to keep their heads above water.

In the 23rd minute of the second half, the home defence went through an anxious moment when the ball just passed over the crossbar with Gatt beaten.

Two minutes later Charles Xerri, who otherwise played a good game, failed to clear his lines allowing Rutherford to go through. Luckily, however, the English winger shot weakly into Gatt's hands.

England kept up the pressure and two minutes from time their efforts were rewarded with a third goal.

A Powell cross was missed by Micallef allowing Pritchard to send his shot past Gatt.