Playing against a team which is provisionally ranked lower than our previous opponents in Group B, Malta managed to hold their own in the opening sessions only to be undone by the visitors from the third quarter onwards in this European Junior Championship classification match at Tal-Qroqq yesterday.
For Georgia, the outstanding units were Zurab Chikvaidze and Revas Imnaishvili who struck eight times between them.
Andreas Galea was Malta’s best scorer with three.
Our boys’ penchant of allowing the outside players too much space proved costly as Chikvaidze hit three goals in the first session.
The Maltese team had gone ahead through Galea and then levelling on 2-2 thanks to the same player.
It was the turn of Imnaishvili to exploit the slack blocking on the five/six positions.
Imnaishvili’s brace made it five for Georgia with Galea pulling back a goal for a temporary 4-3 scoreline.
Goals at each end by Tukhareli and Aleandro Mifsud brought the second quarter to a close on 6-4 for Georgia.
Battling Malta conceded another goal in the last quarter to end the game five goals adrift of their opponents.
The Maltese team will now face Belarus, losers in yesterday’s other classification match, for 15th place on Saturday afternoon.
Summary
Malta 6
Georgia 11
(2-3, 2-3, 2-4, 0-1)
Malta: J. Sciberras, M. Lanzon 2, A. Galea 3, M. Mifsud, M. Grech, B. Plumpton, N. Paris, G. Mizzi, J. Napier, M. Zammit, A. Mifsud 1, N. Bugelli, D. Spiteri.
Georgia: B. Cholokava, Z. Chikvaidze 5, D. Revia, R. Imnaishvili 3, G. Gababadze 1, A. Bitadze, K. Jak-haia, G. Zakareishvili, L. Mosash-vili 1, G. Magrakvelidze, L. Janj-ghava, M. Tukhareli 1, I. Razmadze.
Referees: S. Ivanovski, V. Savt-chenko.
Classification
Belarus 6
Ukraine 14
(1-1, 1-6, 1-3, 3-4)
Prel. round two
Russia 14
Romania 2
(3-1, 3-1, 3-0, 5-0)
Greece 5
Serbia 8
(1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 1-3)
Spain 17
Germany 7
(4-2, 3-1, 3-2, 7-2)
Hungary 12
France 11
(3-0, 3-3, 2-2, 4-6)
Playing today
9-12th: 9am Romania vs Germany, 10.30am Greece vs France.
QFs: Noon Russia vs Italy, 3pm Serbia vs Turkey, 4.30pm Spain vs Montenegro, 6pm Hungary vs Croatia.