Malta 0
Greece 4
Potouridis 15 pen; Kolovos 45, 89; Diamantakos 90;

Greece struck two goals in each half to cruise to a comfortable victory over Malta in a UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier at Ta’ Qali, yesterday.

This was a below-par display by the Maltese in their first home match of this campaign.

They were second best for most of the match much to the disappointment of coach Ray Farrugia who had harboured hopes of a satis-factory result and first points in Group Seven after three successive defeats.

However, the match turned out to be another frustrating afternoon for Malta U-21 who struggled to make any impact. Greece had the excellent Dimitrios Kolovos, scorer of two goals, an authoritative figure in midfield.

Farrugia effected several changes to the team that lost 5-0 in Athens last month.

Yenz Cini replaced the injured Juergen Borg in goal. Jean Paul Farrugia, Steve Pisani, Bjorn Kristensen, Ayrton Azzopardi and Daniel Zerafa were all restored to the starting formation while Zach Muscat was back from suspension.

Malta took some time to settle down but on eight minutes they were almost gifted with an opener when goalkeeper Sokratis Diodis and Ioannis Potouridis failed to communicate and Farrugia poun-ced on the poor clearance only to see his effort landing inside the side-rigging.

But the visitors were soon in control and they broke the stalemate on 15 minutes when they were awarded a penalty after Zerafa upended Apostolos Vellios inside the box. From the spot, Potouridis sent Cini the wrong way to put Greece ahead.

Ryan Camenzuli’s free-kick was blocked by Diodis as Malta tried to get back in the match. Kristensen then delivered a fine throughball towards Jurgen Pisani whose grounder was pushed to a corner by the Greece keeper.

With striker Farrugia under tight scrutiny, Malta tried to make inroads via the flanks through Juergen Pisani and Azzopardi but their final pass left much to be desired.

The Greeks were always threatening when breaking forward and on one occasion Andreas Bouchalakis fed Nikolaos Karelis who saw his shot deflected to a corner.

Malta’s hopes suffered a blow on the stroke of half-time when Kolovos muscled his way past two defenders before letting fly a piledriver that lifted the net.

On the restart, Matthew Tabone came in for Azzopardi. Tabone took his place in the heart of defence with Zerafa advanced to a midfield position.

But Malta never got going and Greece almost added a third goal on 53 minutes when Nikolaos Marinakis picked Konstantin Triantafllopoulos inside the area but his header finished just over.

The visitors continued to create the better chances and ten minutes later Diamantakos traded passes with Kolovos before hitting a rising shot that was tipped over by Cini.

Twelve minutes from time, Farrugia whisked past an opponent but his effort lacked precision.

The match petered out to a tame finale but not before Greece had piled more misery on Malta with a third goal through Kolovos who hit a fierce shot that gave Cini no chance.

There was no fight left in the Maltese players and deep into stoppage time Lykogiannis set up substitute Diamantakos who com-pleted the rout with a fourth Greece goal.

Malta
Y. Cini, C. Grech, A. Azzopardi (46 M. Tabone), Z. Muscat, B. Kristensen, C. Borg (74 B. Muscat), J. Pisani (55 J. Bezzina), S. Pisani, R. Camenzuli, D. Zerafa, J.P. Farrugia.

Greece
S. Diodis, N. Marinakis, C. Lykogiannis, I. Potouridis, K. Triantafllopoulos, C. Mavrias (76 D. Kourmpelis), A. Lagos, A. Vellios (25 D. Diamantakos), D. Kolovos, A. Bouchalakis, N. Karelis (64 A. Kouro).

Referee: T. Hjaltalin (Iceland FA).

Group Seven