Holders Alex Borg and Duncan Bezzina (Malta 1) produced a stirring fightback as they came from 3-1 down to overcome Scotland’s Robert Carlisle and Scott MacFarlane 4-3 and reach the Last 16 at the European Team Championships.

Malta 1 came into the KO stages in fine fettle after they completed their Group C commitments with a 5-0 victory over Lithuania in Qawra.

However, their hopes of retaining the title looked in danger when they trailed 2-0 after losing the opening singles matches.

The Maltese pair came to life in the doubles match when they compiled a run of 97 to pull one back.

MacFarlane put the Scots on the verge of an upset when beating Borg 60-21. But the home side kept fighting and Bezzina had the better of Carlisle 68-54 before the Malta pair forced a decider when winning the second doubles match 66-1.

In the decider, Bezzina completed Malta’s comeback when he defeat MacFarlane 65-9 to set up a last 16 tie against Welsh duo Gareth Allen and Duane Jones.

Tony Drago and Brian Cini, forming Malta 3, gave the home crowd something to cheer about as they battled past Joseph Casha and Andre Pace (Malta 5) 4-2.

Drago and Cini trailed 2-1 but soon clicked into gear hitting runs of 93 and 50 to move just one frame away from victory. They soon completed the job, winning the doubles encounter 65-9.

Today Malta 2 will be up against Wales 2, formed by Alex Taubman and Sam Thomas.

Aaron Busuttil and Chris Peplow won a tense decider against Kristjan Helgason and Sigurdur Kristjansson to progress 4-3. Today, they play against English pair Ryan Causton and Nick Jennings.

Clayton Castaldi and Philip Ciantar were ousted by Israeli duo Maor Shalom and Shay Arama who powered to a 4-0 victory.