Malta defender Jonathan Caruana (right) battles for the ball with Adam Nemec. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar.Slovakia 1
Malta 0
An Adam Nemec goal late in the first half scuppered Malta’s hopes of opening their 2014-15 commitments on a high as Slovakia grabbed a narrow 1-0 win in a frien-dly at the Zilina Stadium yesterday.
It was a tenacious performance from Pietro Ghedin’s team who defended diligently throughout the 90 minutes but a rare defensive blip just before half- time paved the way for the hosts to grab the winner.
Despite the defeat, Ghedin will have taken heart from his side’s tireless performance as the players looked to have adapted well to the new tactics after the Italian coach opted for a three-man defence.
The team’s bold display should also lift their spirits ahead of their opening Euro 2016 Group H qualifier against Croatia in Zagreb on Tuesday.
Things had looked promising for Malta for much of the opening 45 minutes as they were compact in defence, limiting the Slovakians to few scoring opportunities.
The hosts created the first chance of the half after only seven minutes when skipper Marek Hamsik sent a dangerous cross-shot into the area which was pushed away by Andrew Hogg.
The Malta no.1 was again alert on 17 minutes, beating away Miro-slav Stoch’s shot from a free-kick.
Still it was Malta who created the best opening on 34 minutes when Steve Borg’s cross was deflected into the path of Ryan Fenech who quickly released Michael Mifsud with a clever back-heel but the Malta forward was denied by the onrushing Matthew Kozacik.
Slovakia scored what proved to be the winning goal two minutes from the break.
Paul Fenech was dispossessed by Vladimir Weiss on the left and the Slovakian midfielder quickly directed a cross towards Nemec who beat Hogg from close in.
Five minutes into the second half, Malta protested for a penalty when Schembri looked to have been tripped by Thomas Hubocan but the referee waved play on.
On 65 minutes, Slovakia came close to a second goal but Jakub Sylvestr’s header was palmed away by Hogg.
Five minutes later, Mifsud embarked on a surging run but his low drive flashed wide.
From then on the match became somewhat scrappy with both coaches effecting a several substitutions.
Ghedin brought on Ryan Scicluna and Zach Muscat who were making their Malta debut.
Slovakia: M. Kozacik, P. Pekarik, N. Gyomber, J. Durica, T. Hubocan (72 M. Breznanik), V. Pecovski, F. Kiss (84 K. Guede), V. Weiss, M. Hamsik (72 M. Duris), M. Stoch (62 J. Sylvestr), A. Nemec (62 S. Sestak).
Malta: A. Hogg, J. Caruana, S. Borg (65 S, Bezzina), A. Agius (46 Z. Muscat), R. Fenech (62 B. Kristensen), C. Failla (80 E. Herrera), P. Fenech (87 R. Scicluna), M. Mifsud, A. Schembri (77 A. Cohen), R. Muscat, R. Camilleri.
Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (Czech Republic).