The Malta U-17 team concluded their commitments in Group Eight of the UEFA Under-17 Champion-ship with another narrow defeat after going down 2-1 to Finland yesterday.

Having suffered identical 1-0 defeats to hosts Serbia and the Netherlands in their opening two games, the Maltese boys had their sights set on picking up their first points in their final outing but again left the pitch with nothing to show for their efforts despite producing another lively perfor-mance.

Finland, who were also deter-mined to avoid last place in the group after losing to the Nether-lands (2-0) and Serbia (1-0), took a 16th-minute lead through Niilo Mäenpää but Myles Beerman levelled on 50 minutes.

However, Malta’s joy at Beer-man’s equaliser was short-lived as, two minutes later, Finland were awarded a dubious penalty and captain Lucas Lingman made no mistake to restore his team’s one-goal lead.

Malta, led by coach Sergio Soldano, staged a bold reaction but could find a way past the Finnish defence.

The Maltese team had the better of the exchanges, producing 22 attempts, including seven shots on target, to Finland’s nine but again paid the price for their failure to make the most of their chances.

The Netherlands claimed top spot in Group Eight after edging out Serbia 1-0 but both teams qualified for the elite round.

Malta line-up
T. Aquilina, N. Pulis, N. Ghio, M. Guil-laumier, J. Borg, A. Friggieri, D. Xuereb, Z. Brincat, K. Xuereb (41 C. Grech), M. Beerman, R. Fenech.