The Under-23 Challenge Trophy qualifiers were played last week at the University Sports Hall, Tal-Qroqq, with Malta in the same group as Moldova, Scotland and Azerbaijan.

The Maltese team left a good impression despite losing all their three matches. Moldova, who claimed top spot, beat Matthew Mamo’s men 41-20 but Malta ran Scotland and Azerbaijan close.

In the opening match against Azerbaijan, Malta started well only to surrender the initiative to the visitors who won the first half by seven goals. But, Malta battled on and scored one more than their opponents in the second half only for the Azeris to prevail 29-23 .

Alex Di Pilato scored six goals followed by Ian Turban who netted five as John Scicluna impressed after replacing Daniel Tanti in goal.

Malta lost 41-20 to favourites Moldova in their second match with Chris Magro netting six times and Peter Naudi hitting four.

Malta and Scotland contested the match to avoid bottom place.

The Scots won 32-27. This was by far the most exciting encounter of the weekend with both teams cancelling each other out in the opening stages.

But Scotland then enjoyed their best patch to open a seven-goal lead before half-time.

Malta upped their game after the interval. However, as in the match against Azerbaijan, their efforts were not enough to over-turn the deficit as Scotland finished third in the final standings ahead of Malta.

Left-winger Girvan scored 14 goals for Scotland with Luke Zammit netting six and Turban, Peter Naudi and Chris Magro scoring five goals each for Malta.

Turban was voted best centre-back while Magro was Malta’s top scorer with 15 goals.

Results
Moldova vs Scotland 47-20; Azerbaijan vs Malta 29-23; Scotland vs Azerbaijan 19-36; Malta vs Moldova 20-41; Moldova vs Azerbaijan 34-31; Scotland vs Malta 32-27.