Josip Ilicic and Milivoje Novakovic condemned Malta to its sixth successive defeat in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers as Slovenia scored a goal in each half to cruise to a 2-0 win at the Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana.

It was a disappointing result for the Maltese who again put up a solid defensive performance but their lack of punch upfront came back to haunt them they remained bottom of Group F with no points.

The Slovenians took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Ilicic, who is on the books of Fiorentina, let fly a powerful angled drive that gave no chance to Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg.

The Maltese tried to react and had a couple of half chances at the start of the second half.

However, Slovenia soon reasserted their authority to kill off the match with six minutes to go when Novakovic met Ilicic’s low cross to stab the ball into the net.

Photo: Paul Zammit CutajarPhoto: Paul Zammit Cutajar

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