Malta 0
Ukraine 3
Rakitsikyy 86 pen; Lysenko 88 Fedorchvk 90
Ukraine staged a spectacular late rally to break the hearts of a resilient Malta U-21 side yesterday.
Edwin Camilleri's improving team held out until four minutes from time only for Group Eight leaders Ukraine to strike three times and open a three-point lead at the top of the table.
Camilleri devised a well-drilled gameplan. In an organised 4-5-1 formation, Terence Vella was on his own up front supported from the wings by Richard Chetcuti and Karl Pulo with Julian Galea moving forward from midfield.
Rowen Muscat and Mark Scerri sat deep to protect the defence which included Steve Borg and Joseph Zerafa in central defence.
Ukraine made a bright start and Mykola Morozivk tested Henry Bonello with a strong shot as the visitors flooded forward safe in the knowledge that Malta had only one player in attack.
It was clear that the hosts had taken a lot of heart from the friendly match against Cyprus as they battled for every ball.
On 27 minutes, Steve Borg gave away a free-kick on the edge of the box but Yevgen Selin's free-kick drifted wide.
Bonello had to be on his guard twice in quick succession as the Ukrainians broke forward. In fact, on the half-hour mark, Ukraine went close to taking the lead when Maxym Bilyy's cross picked out Selin whose header was punched away by Bonello.
Two minutes later, Borg redeemed himself by getting in the way of Yaroslav Rakitsikyy's pile-driver.
Ukraine continued to impress with their passing and movement in the second half but their hard running began to take its toll, allowing Malta into the game.
On 49 minutes, Roman Zozvlia turned and fired wide in one movement with Bonello out of position.
Malta were coming more into the picture though and on 68 minutes, substitute Miguel Ciantar stung the palms of Anton Kamibolotskyi with a long range shot.
Ukraine stepped up the pressure but Bonello was doing a formidable job between the posts. He pulled a stunning save from substitute Volodymyr Lysenko in the 78th minute.
Seven minutes from time, Lysenko failed to make contact to an inviting ball by Denys Garmash in front of Bonello's goal.
Malta looked set for a laboured point but four minutes from time Zerafa hauled down Garmash inside the box. Yaroslav Rakitsikyy scored from the penalty and matters worsened for the home team two minutes later when Lysenko added a second following some suspect defending from Borg.
Malta were already sunk when Valerii Fedorchvk headed home with virtually the last kick of the game to make it 3-0.
Standings: Ukraine (4-2-0) 14; France (3-2-0) 11; Belgium (3-2-1) 11; Slovenia (2-0-4) 6; Malta (0-0-7) 0.
Malta
H. Bonello, B. Muscat, S. Borg, J. Zerafa, D. Pisani, M. Scerri ('73 A. Borg), R. Muscat, R. Chetcuti ('58 M. Ciantar), J. Galea, K. Pulo, T. Vella ('67 Q. Refalo).
Ukraine
A. Kamibolotskyi, O. Matvyenev, Y. Selin, Y. Rakitsikyy, T. Stepanenko, M. Morozivk ('70 V. Vitsemets), R. Zozvlia ('78 V. Lysenko), A. Iarmolenko, S. Kryvtsov, M. Bilyy ('61 V. Fedorchvk), D. Garmash.
Referee: L. Christoffersen (Denmark).