Malta U-17 endured an uninspiring start to their UEFA Championship mini-tournament campaign as they crashed to a heavy 6-0 defeat to Scotland, in Portugal, yesterday.

This was a poor showing from Silvio Vella’s team, particularly in the opening half, as they failed to contend with the aerial prowess of their opponents.

In fact, Scott Gemmill’s team had already wrapped up the points by the end of the opening half after racing into a commanding 5-0 lead with skipper Jack Aitchison grabbing a double.

The Maltese tried to limit the damage after the break as the Scots opted to administer their advantage before adding another goal late on.

Vella and his players will have to lift their game by several notches tomorrow when they face hosts Portugal in their second match.

Scotland took the lead on 18 minutes. Aitchison was brought down in the box by Romario Camilleri and he picked himself up to convert the penalty.

Seven minutes later it was 2-0 and it was Aitchison again who connected to Glenn Middleton’s delivery from a corner and beat goalkeeper Rashed Al-Tumi.

Malta’s difficulties in set-pieces again resurfaced three minutes later when, from another corner, this time taken by Elliot Watt, Middleton fired the ball home.

Vella was clearly unhappy with his team and on 32 minutes, he replaced Lian Formosa with Shaun Dimech to try and steady ship.

But Scotland continued to dominate and added two more goals before the break.

On 37 minutes, Robbie Deas beat Al Tumi from another Watt corner and in stoppage time, Zak Rudden made it 5-0.

Scotland remained on top after the break and Al Tumi had to be at his best to keep out efforts from Stephen Kelly and Rudden.

However, Al Tumi was left helpless seven minutes from time when Zak Grech committed an own goal in an attempt to clear a shot by Daniel Church.

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