Malta U-21 conceded their fourth successive defeat in the European Championship qualifiers Group 7 after they went down 4-0 at the National Stadium.

The match turned into an uphill struggle for the hosts when they fell behind after 15 minutes. Daniel Zerafa upended Greek striker Apostolo Vellios inside the area with Iceland referee Thoroddur Hjaltalin immediately pointed to the spot. Ioannis Potouridis drilled the ball past Yenz Cini to put the visitors ahead.

Malta tried to force a reaction with their best chance falling to Jurgen Pisani on 29 minutes when he was put through by Bjorn Kristensen but the Malta winger saw his low shot pushed away by Greece goalkeeper Sokratis Diodis.

Greece grabbed a second goal on the stroke of half-time when Dimitrios Kolovos moved past two Maltese defenders before he let fly a firm drive that flew into the top corner.

On the restart Farrugia brought in some fresh legs in the shape of Matthew Tabone, Brandon Muscat and Johann Bezzina but Greece remained firmly in control and could have even added a third goal when Dimitrios Diamantakos burst into the area but his rising shot was tipped over by Malta goalkeeper Yenz Cini.

Greece wrapped up the points with a third goal a minute from time when Kolovos forced his way into the area and hit a fierce low drive that gave no chance to Cini.

The Maltese looked deflated and deep into stoppage time the Greeks added a fourth goal when Lykogiannis set up substitute Diamantakos who slid the ball past Cini.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.