The Maltese national team failed to reach the final of the 2015 EuroHockey Championship IV final after going down heavily to Denmark 5-1 in yesterday’s semi-final in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Pieter Bregman’s team gave their all, particularly in the opening half, but finally had to bow to superior opponents even though they could lament that some umpiring decisions went against them at crucial stages of the encounter.

Play flowed from end to end in a high-tempo first half. Malta almost took the lead through Steve Tanti but his shot was stopped on the line by a defender.

On 33 minutes, Malta did not clear an attack down the left flank and got punished when Stephan Half Trzepacz was left unmarked to push in the opener.

Denmark doubled their tally soon after the restart when loose marking allowed Lasse Steinmetz a free hit from the top left side of the D.

Malta fought back and on 45 minutes Juan Sarcia reduced the arrears from a penalty corner move.

Bregman’s men had two other penalty corners in favour but no goals were scored.

In the meantime, Malta should have been awarded a penalty stroke for a blatant offence inside the D which went unnoticed by the umpires.

From applying constant pressure to draw level it all went pear-shaped in the last nine minutes of the encounter when Malta suddenly found themselves 3-1 down as Jeppe Buur netted after a melee.

Casper Kirkeby Dahl scored Denmark’s fourth and on 66 minutes Tobias Grand gave his team a flattering 5-1 victory, not at all reflective of the Maltese team’s overall performance during the game.

Malta take on Lithuania in to-day’s third place play-off. Denmark play Slovakia in the final.