Controversial second-half penalty sees Armenia through

A dubious second-half penalty, scored by Armenia’s Kristine Mangasaryan, ended Malta’s hopes of qualification to the group stage of the women’s Euro 2013 and promoted the former Russian republic to the next round of the competition as the hosts had to settle for a 1-1 draw at the Centenary Stadium, yesterday.

Malta took to the pitch with a clear objective in mind as only a victory against overnight leaders Armenia could see them finishing top of the four-team mini-tournament, providing the Faroe Islands failed to beat Georgia in the other match, played simultaneously at the National Stadium.

At half-time, Pierre Brincat’s girls looked well on course to reach their goal when Rachel Cuschieri put the team ahead after 14 minutes from a free-kick. The Faroes were still locked to a 0-0 draw at that juncture.

Malta held control after the break and created a few other clear chances to add to their tally but failed to score what would have proved to be a crucial second goal.

The hosts paid dearly for their failures in attack as in a rare foray inside the Maltese half, Armenia grabbed the equaliser on 64 minutes, albeit in controversial fashion.

Kristine Aleksanyan was fouled by Malta skipper Rebecca D’Agostino just outside the box but to the amazement of those present Dutch referee Sjoukje de Jong pointed to the spot.

The Maltese players protested but De Jong was unmoved and from the penalty, Mangasaryan drilled the ball past goalkeeper Sharon Costantino.

Stung by that setback, Malta increased their efforts in the remaining minutes. However, this time they could not find a way past Armenia goalkeeper Anna Karapetyan.

The result left a bad taste on Brincat’s players at the final whistle, especially after learning that Faroe Islands had got beaten by Georgia 1-0. The goal that mattered in this match came five minutes into added time from substitute Lela Chichinadze, also from a penalty.

Armenia topped a very balanced Group One on five points, one point ahead of Malta and Georgia with the Faroes finishing bottom with three points.

Hosts Macedonia were the winners of the other preliminary round mini-tournament which was also completed yesterday. They joined Armenia in the next qualifying round of the championship which will see the participation of the 36 highest-ranked contenders split into seven groups.

Malta line-up: S. Costantino, K. Feasey, N. Pace, R. D’Agostino, D. Theuma, Y. Carabott, R. Cuschieri (89 O. Bedingfield), R. Chircop, A. Sammut (83 E. Xuereb), M. Debono, C. Zammit (64 K. Saliba).

Final standings: Armenia 5; Malta, Georgia 4; Faroe Islands 3.