Malta 1 Slovakia 3
Malta suffered its fifth successive defeat in the World Cup qualifying campaign when they lost to Slovakia 3-1 at the National Stadium.
Slovakia took just 90 seconds to find the breakthrough in the Group F qualifier when Wladimir Weiss created space for himself on the edge of the area and let fly a scorching drive that flew past a helpless Andrew Hogg and finished into the net via the cross bar.
The hosts were stunned but they were regaled with a route back into the match on 14 minutes.
Milan Skriniar’s attempted backpass towards goalkeeper Matus Kozacik was intercepted by Jean Paul Farrugia who drilled the ball past the Slovakia no.1 from close in.
The match was bereft of scoring opportunities as the Maltese were working hard to close any avenues for their Slovakian opponents.
But Malta’s hopes of going for the interval level were dashed on 40 minutes. Jan Greguk hit a low drive that looked to have been covered by goalkeeper Hogg but the ball slipped to the Malta custodian fingers and rolled into the net.
Malta’s hopes of salvaging something from the match were all but ended 11 minutes from time when Bjorn Kristensen, who had just replaced Luke Gambin, sent a throughball towards Farrugia who looked to have used his arm to control the ball before depositing the ball into the net.
Referee Ali Palabiyik handed the Sliema striker his second yellow card of the day and was dismissed.
With a player down, the situation got desperate for Malta and five minutes from time Hamsik played in Adam Nemec who slotted the ball past Hogg.
Slovakia soon made their numerical advantage count as six minutes later Hamsik played in Adam Nemec who kept his cool to beat Hogg.
Numerical parity was restored in stoppage time when Nemec was show a straight red card after hitting Zach Muscat.
Malta
A. Hogg, S. Magri, G. Sciberras, P. Fenech, A. Schembri (90 L. Montebello), L. Gambin (73 B. Kristensen), J.P. Farrugia, R. Camilleri (80 C. Gatt Baldacchino), J. Zerafa, Z. Muscat, C. Attard.
Slovakia
M. Kozacik, P. Pekarik, M. Skrtel, J. Gregus, V. Weiss (87 A. Rusnak), A. Nemec, P. Hrosovsky, M. Skriniar, T. Hubocan, J. Kucka (73 M. Duris), R. Mak (50 M. Hamsik).
Referee Ali Palabiyik (Turkey FA).
Yellow cards Skrtel, Nemec, Farrugia, Camilleri, Kucka, Nemec.
Red card Farrugia (M) 79.
Attendance, 2,980.