Malta ended their commitments in the UEFA U-19 Championship qualifiers with a 3-1 win over Gibraltar in their final Group Six match in Tramore, Ireland, yesterday.

Wayne Attard’s boys were looking to sign off from the competition with a positive result after the previous upsets to hosts Ireland (1-0) and Switzerland (7-1).

Malta enjoyed the initiative for much of the first half and came close to an opener on various occasions before finding a breakthrough three minutes from the interval when Aidan Friggieri directed the ball past goalkeeper Dayle Coleing.

Gibraltar took seven minutes to restore parity after the restart when they were awarded a penalty. James Coombes beat Philip Schranz from the spot to make it 1-1.

But Malta did not panic and regained the lead on 59 minutes through skipper Jurgen Degabriele.

They continued to create scoring opportunities but had to wait until four minutes from time to seal their first win in the competition when Matthew Guillaumier added a third goal.

In the other match from the group yesterday, Switzerland and Ireland, who were already assured of qualification to the Elite Round, took a point each following a 1-1 draw.

They finished joint top with seven points. Switzerland claimed first place due to better goals.

Malta classified third on three points but missed out on the slot for the best third-placed team from all 13 groups in this qualifying round.

Malta: P. Schranz, J. Brincat, K. Micallef, A. Xuereb (46 K. Zammit), J. Degabriele, J. Mbong (85 A. Attard), N. Ghio, J. Borg, M. Guillaumier, A. Friggieri (89 J. Grech), C. Borg.

Standings: Switzerland 7; Ireland 7; Malta 3; Gibraltar 0.