Malta striker Alfred Effiong moves past Yaroslav Rakytskyi, of Ukraine. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

Pietro Ghedin has heaped the praise on the Malta national team players after their excellent performance in an international friendly against Ukraine on Tuesday evening.

The Italian mentor had demanded a committed performance from his team and he got it as Malta pulled off a surprise by beating the more-quoted Ukraine 1-0 in a warm-up match match at the Merkur Arena in Graz.

Zach Muscat’s headed goal on 14 minutes secured a morale-boosting win for Malta who were duly rewarded for their enterprising showing on a rainswept pitch.

Ghedin could not hide his satisfaction at his team’s showing.

“I’m very happy because the performance was very good,” Ghedin said after the match.

“All the players played well, I used all the players in the squad during the game.

“I’m very satisfied about the performance of the team, especially the new players, the likes of Steve Pisani... everyone really.

“All the defenders, I want to say ‘bravi’ to all of them.”

While Floriana midfielder Pisani was starting his first game for the national team, Dale Camilleri, the St Andrews midfielder, Johann Bezzina, the Hibernians playmaker, and Rangers left-back Myles Beerman made their first appearance for Malta at senior level.

Playing their first ever match against Ukraine, Malta also had to cope with the added challenge of playing on a wet pitch but they were up for the task.

“The pitch was very slippery,” Ghedin said.

“All the players played from the heart, for the shirt, like I stress all the time.

“The commitment was great.”

The win over Ukraine, Malta’s first in two years, has given everyone a boost ahead of the 2018 World Cup Group F qualifier against Slovenia this Saturday. But Ghedin is adamant that the players will not get carried away by this victory.

“Now we are working for the next game because Saturday’s match against Slovenia is very important,” the Italian said.

“We need to recover. All the players are ok, we don’t have any injuries.

“Tomorrow is another day. We need to stay fully focused and grounded.”