Malta U-19 succumbed to their third successive defeat in Group Nine of the UEFA qualifiers yesterday when going down to Slovenia 4-0, all goals for the hosts scored in the opening half.

Slovenia took a seventh-minute lead through Dino Stancic and after a period of sustained pressure Enej Jelenic made it 2-0 .

Stancic scored his second goal from a free-kick on 37 minutes and just before half-time Jelenic made it 4-0 after a fine solo move.

Coach Michael Molzahn effected some changes during the break and Malta started playing with more confidence. A shot by Keith Fedele just missed the target and on 78 minutes substitute Ryan Micallef hit the bar with a shot from just outside the area.

Standings: Netherlands (3-0-0) 9; Slovakia (2-0-1) 6; Slovenia (1-0-2) 3; Malta (0-0-3) 0.

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