The mood was distinctly subdued as the Malta players returned to their hotel after the qualifier against Georgia on Friday night.

Our players are often accused of not showing enough passion when they don the national team’s shirt but those who witnessed their heart-on-sleeves performance at the rainswept Boris Paichadze Stadium would beg to differ.

Staying upbeat after the umpteenth defeat – ‘the same old story’ was how a timesofmalta.com reader described the result on Friday – for our oft-derided team is not easy but there were certainly a number of positives to derive from Friday’s qualifier.

Georgia, who had drawn their opening two ties against Greece and Israel, had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession as they pressed hard in pursuit of a first home win in three years and their first three-point haul in this Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

For all Georgia’s possession, Malta stuck grimly to their task of containing their opponents and try to inflict damage with quick counter-thrusts.

Sceptics will argue that such approach reflected a lack of ambition on Malta’s part but this was hardly surprising considering that they were playing on foreign territory and against a team itching to exact revenge for a 2-0 defeat to our team in a friendly match last year.

Set against that victory, this defeat can only be interpreted as a backward step for Malta but the conditions were different then, not least the fact that that was a friendly meeting and we had home advantage.

While I share the sporting public’s wish of sustained prosperity for our national team, I always try to be realistic and base my judgments on facts.

The limitations and complexities of Maltese football are well-documented and any endeavours aimed at lifting the standards of our teams and players are doomed to fail unless we address the failings that are stifling the development of our youngsters.

At least, the MFA’s new hierarchy appear to have the enthusiasm and drive to change the status quo.

Our national team mirrors the level of our domestic game, what with seven of Malta’s starting XI on Friday plying their trade with local clubs while Michael Mifsud, the captain, is still without a team.

It also says a lot about the tangible benefits of playing professional football overseas that three of Malta’s top performers against Georgia are engaged with foreign teams, namely goalkeeper Justin Haber and Andre Schembri, both of Ferencvaros, and Andrei Agius who turns out for AS Melfi in Italy’s Serie C2 league.

What about Georgia?

In the eyes of the doom-mongers, Georgia are on a par if not inferior to Malta but the names on their teamsheet tell a different story.

Whereas the bulk in our squad are not even full-time professionals, Georgia coach Temuri Ketsbaia was able to field a team containing 11 foreign-based players, including Serie A veteran in Kakha Kaladze, five who are on the books of Russian Premier League clubs and Zurab Khizanishvili of English Championship outfit Reading.

And after Friday’s game, Ketsbaia bemoaned the lack of depth in his squad!

Yet, despite the evident gulf in experience and technical ability between the two teams, Malta showed resilience and tactical cohesion to keep Georgia at bay.

Their hit-them-on-the-counter strategy also proved effective as Malta constructed a string of scoring chances.

Indeed as Malta coach John Buttigieg pointed out in the post-match news conference, “we had a big chance towards the end of the game and if we had scored, we might have won”.

Buttigieg was alluding to the instant when Shaun Bajada threaded a through-ball to Schembri who was clean through but the latter failed to beat Nukri Revishvili from a glorious position.

Whereas in many past internationals, Malta would suffer a mental and physical decline, that was not the case on Friday as the players showed great stamina.

Conceding a stoppage-time goal was a hammer blow for our players.

Malta had warded off a series of crosses but they were undone when Kaladze’s delivery from the left was headed home by substitute David Siradze in the first minute of stoppage time.

As much as it would be unfair on our players to write off their outing in Tbilisi as another flop, the bottom line is that we are still without a point after three qualifiers.

The jury is still out on coach Buttigieg who has overseen five competitive defeats since taking charge of the national team in August last year.

Buttigieg’s selection on Friday was generally greeted with nods of approval, even if Mifsud did little to quell growing calls for him to be dropped from the team in light of his lack of first-team action.

The former Valletta forward tried to bank on his speed to make an impact up front but his first touch was heavy and most of the time he was too isolated.

Critics believe that Mifsud is not deserving of his status as an automatic choice because he is short of match sharpness but does Buttigieg have better players in his position?

Buttigieg’s second-half substitutions produced mixed results as Ryan Fenech did well after coming on for Gareth Sciberras but the withdrawal of Schembri late in the game baffled many.

The inclusion of a hard-working midfielder like Paul Fenech was intended to bolster our defensive resistance but Schembri had proved himself an effective target for Malta up front as his fine touch and shielding of the ball relieved some of the pressure from his team-mates.

Buttigieg and assistant Carmel Busuttil did well to coax a spirited performance from their team but they perhaps need to lay more emphasis on the psychological aspect.

With a tough away qualifier against group favourites Croatia next for Malta, Buttigieg must get his players to believe more in themselves after their showing against Georgia.

Another top priority is finding a suitable replacement for Agius, outstanding on Friday, as the young defender is suspended for the Zagreb trip after collecting his second booking.

The same goes for Andrew Cohen but on the plus side, Daniel Bogdanovic will be available after completing his one-match ban.

Croatia will be another acid test for our team, possibly the most daunting of this campaign but a reprise of Friday’s gutsy display would stand Malta in good stead.