Malta again finished on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline when they were beaten by Albania in their second match of the 2008 Futsal World Cup qualifying tournament at the AS Hibernians Pavilion yesterday.

As happened on Thursday, the Maltese fought back from a two-goal deficit to reduce the arrears early in the second period.

Malta had a shaky start and were a goal down after just over two minutes when Zamir Lumanas breached our defensive lines. Lumanas made it 2-0 in the 11th minute.

The tide changed in the second period when another set-piece similar to that against Greece the day before was excellently worked out before John Cutajar fired Timothy Ellis's square ball past Hektor Psatha, the Albanian goalkeeper.

With the visitors hanging on five personal faults, it was Albania's turn to pull down the curtains and Psatha pulled off two remarkable saves in the last minutes of the match.

Malta: B. Vassallo, T. Ellis, T. Borg, J. Cutajar, N. Mijailovic, J. Ciangura, P. Bugeja, M. Ellul Sullivan, N. Bray, B. Gialanze, J. Gatt, R. Magro.

Other result: Slovenia-Greece 3-1.

Tomorrow - 6 p.m. Albania vs Greece; 8 p.m. Slovenia vs Malta.

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