Late goal breaks Maltese hearts

Georgia 1
Siradze 90
Malta 0

An indefatigable performance had heightened Malta’s optimism of claiming a first point in Group F of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign last night.

Undeterred by the driving rain that lashed down on the Boris Paichadze Stadium, Malta had shown plenty of commitment to withstand Georgia’s pressure to the extent that the score was still goalless as this hard-fought encounter drifted into stoppage time.

Yet, Malta’s perpetual weakness when it comes to capitalising on the few scoring chances that fall their way came back to haunt them as Georgia grasped a last-gasp winner.

Although the hosts dictated the tempo for long periods, Malta, with Andrei Agius and Jonathan Caruana imperious at the back, not only absorbed the pressure, they also managed to mount some telling raids on the counter.

Suffice to say that, with 12 minutes of the game left, it was Malta who almost stunned the home crowd when the recalled André Schembri came face to face with Nukri Revishvili only for the Georgia goalkeeper to paw away his effort.

This spurned opportunity stung Georgia into action as Temuri Ketsbaia’s men laid siege to the Malta goal in the final 10 minutes with substitute David Siradze delivering the much-craved winner and a first win for his team after back-to-back draws against Greece and Israel.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was electrifying with more than 40,000 fans turning this venue into a cauldron of noise.

A fractured finger had kept Justin Haber out of Malta’s opening two qualifiers but the Ferencvaros goalkeeper was back in the thick of things yesterday.

Exuding confidence during Malta’s rain-hit training sessions in Tbilisi, Haber did enough to persuade Buttigieg that he deserved to start.

Gareth Sciberras received the green light to continue his first-team run after an adductor injury, picked up during training on Wednesday, had jeopardised the midfielder’s participation in this qualifier.

Schembri made his first start for Malta in over a year as Buttigieg rekindled the Schembri-Michael Mifsud attacking partnership.

In midfield, Jamie Pace and Sciberras were charged with the unenviable task of foiling Georgia’s advances while Shaun Bajada and Andrew Cohen took up the wide midfield positions.

At the back, Buttigieg kept faith with the central duo of Caruana and Agius with Carlo Mamo and Roderick Briffa patrolling the left and right flanks respectively.

Georgia shaded the early exchanges but they seldom stretched the Maltese defence beyond routine stuff.

Just under eight minutes from the referee’s initial whistle had elapsed when Vladimer Dvalishvili drilled a menacing cross into the box but luckily for Malta no Georgia player was at hand to inflict more damage.

When Gogita Gogua peeled away from Cohen close to the halfway line, danger loomed for Malta. The Spartak Nalchik midfielder bore down on goal before letting fly a stinging drive that Haber punched away with some difficulty.

Malta fashioned their first notable chance close to the 20th minute, Caruana heading Bajada’s corner over the bar.

From an almost carbon-copy move, Georgia came closer to taking the lead as Aleksandre Amisulashvili sent his header wide from a Gogua corner.

Another sweetly-struck corner by Gogua caused consternation in the Malta defence as Kakha Kaladze, Georgia’s star player, slid in at the far post to try and flick the ball into the net but Haber somehow managed to block his effort.

With Malta set up to defend en masse and operate with counter-attacks, Georgia bossed the midfield with Levan Kobiashvili, who plies his trade with Hertha Berlin, supplying the spark.

When Pace stole possession in the centre of the pitch, Malta quickly switched to counter-attacking mode. Pace served Bajada who in turn laid the ball to the steaming Schembri. He raced past Malkhaz Astiani but fluffed his final effort.

Schembri’s poise and deft first touch gave Malta some breathing space every time the ball reached the Ferencvaros striker in the final third.

Georgia’s pressure petered out as the first half drew to a close, much to the frustration of the fans who jeered their own team off the pitch at half-time.

Ketsbaia indicated his dissatisfaction with his strikers’ poor performance by replacing them both at the start of the second half.

Alexandre Iashvili and Siradze came on for Dvalishvili and Gorgi Merebashvili respectively.

Georgia stormed out of the blocks after the break with Gogua nodding the ball wide after Lasha Salukvadze’s swirling cross had soared above the Malta defenders.

Earlier, Haber had blocked Gogua’s grounder.

Nine minutes into the second half, Malta were awarded a free-kick close to the byline to the right of Georgia’s box. Cohen elected to guide a short pass to Mamo whose low effort rolled straight at Khizanshvili.

Emboldened by Georgia’s purposeful start to the second half, the crowd grew increasingly vocal.

Malta sighed with relief when Iashvili’s first-time drive failed to seep through the thicket of players in front of Haber.

At the other end, Bajada did well to cut in from the left before serving Mifsud but the latter’s drive lacked the power to trouble the Georgia goalkeeper.

Midway into the second half, Kaladze nearly put Georgia ahead when he rose high to meet Ananidze’s cross but his looping header whistled past the post.

Gaining in confidence, Malta forced a couple of corners but failed to pose any danger to Georgia. Then, on 78 minutes, the visitors squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to nose ahead.

Another sweeping counter-thrust exposed Georgia’s frailties at the back as Bajada advanced on the left, drifted infield and released Schembri who was clear but the latter’s effort was parried by Revishvili.

Reprieved, Georgia reclaimed the upperhand as Agius and Mamo made vital interventions to clear dangerous crosses from the left.

A thorn in the side of Malta’s defence, Gogua made another diagonal run before arrowing a fierce shot that Haber saved in two attempts. Iashvili appeared to stamp on Haber’s hand as he attempted to pounce on the loose ball – the much-criticised jabulani. As the Malta goalkeeper lay motionless on the pitch, the restless crowd broke into a barrage of boos but Haber was soon back on his feet.

Four minutes from time, Georgia created another great opportunity to open the scoring as Asatiani nutmegged Mamo down the left, sprinted into the box and squared to Siradze who steered the ball wide from point-blank distance.

Just as Malta were beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, Georgia struck at the death.

Kaladze was the provider as his perfect cross from the left soared towards the centre of the penalty box where Siradze towered into the air to direct a downward header past Haber.

Coaches' comments

John Buttigieg (Malta): “I’m very disappointed that we conceded a late goal but that’s football. I’m very happy with the commitment of my players but congratulations to Ketsbaia because his team played with a lot of passion.”

Temuri Ketsbaia (Georgia): “A long time had passed since we last won at home so this victory should help us a lot psychologically. All of my players are exhausted because they really gave their all but we need more creativity and dynamism in our play.”

Georgia: N. Revishvili, L. Salukvadze, M. Asatiani, K. Kaladze, A. Amisulashvili, Z. Khizanshvili, G. Gogua, J. Ananidze (73 M. Daushvili), G. Merebashvili (46 D. Siradze), L. Kobiashvili, V. Dvalishvili (46 A. Iashvili).

Malta: J. Haber, J. Caruana, C. Mamo, G. Sciberras (68 R. Fenech), A. Agius, R. Briffa, M. Mifsud, A. Cohen (’90 M. Grima), S. Bajada, A. Schembri (’79 P. Fenech), J. Pace.

Referee: Alan Black (Northern Ireland).

Yellow cards: Khizanshvili; Cohen; Schembri; Agius.

Malta players' ratings: Haber-7, Caruana-6.5, Mamo-6.5, Sciberras-6, Agius-7.5, Briffa-6, Mifsud-5, Cohen-5, Bajada-6, Schembri-7, Pace-7.

Substitute: R. Fenech-6.