Malta U-21 lost their first international assignment for 2013 when they were beaten by a ten-man Austria side 3-1 in a friendly international at the Hibs Stadium.

The hosts had enjoyed a dream start as after only five minutes they surged ahead. Bjorn Kristensen dispossessed Austria defender Martin Hinteregger with the ball falling into the path of Jean Paul Farrugia who slotted the ball past Austria goalkeeper Christoph Riegler.

But the visitors slowly grew in stature and on 25 minutes they were awarded a central free-kick and Marcel Ritzmaier’s curling drive flew past Cini.

Early in the second half Austria were reduced to ten men when Djuricin was shown a straight red car after hitting Zach Muscat in an off-the-ball incident.

But that failed to derail Austria who took the lead two minutes later when Holzhauser scored directly from a free-kick.

The visitors wrapped up the win in time added on when Matthew Tabone upended Florian Kainz in the area and from the resultant penalty Holzhauser hit past Cini.

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