MALTA BEATEN BUT DESERVED BETTER

Malta were  beaten 2-0 by Azerbaijan in a European Qualifier played in Baku. But definitely deserved something better for their second half efforts. This win sees Azerbaijan overtake Malta in Group H, now having three and one points respectively.  Ghedin made four changes from the side which started the match against Georgia, three days ago. With A. Hogg, P. Fenech and R. Briffa returning to the side and A. Effiong appearing in the starting eleven. The home side took the lead as early as the 3rd minute with a header from Huseynov after a cross from the right. Malta’s reaction came in the 12th minute when A. Effiong got the best out of keeper Agayev, with his angled shot.These being the only two notable actions in the first half. Things remained somewhat balanced at the start of the second half with Malta trying to push forward. The first shot at goal of the second half came in the 62nd minute and it was once again Effiong, this time shooting over the bar from just outside the box.The Azeris reacted immediately and Hogg did well to turn a low shot to a corner. Malta had another chance in the 76th minute but A. Schembri’s low shot from outside the area was easily saved by the keeper. Malta were by now piling up the pressure and Paul Fenech headed weakly for Agayev to save. Malta were unlucky not to equalise on the 83rd minute when Steve Pisani’s diagonal shot from close range was well saved by Agayev. A corner taken by Ryan Fenech in the 87th minute, and again Malta were unlucky when an indecisive Azeri captian let the ball through only for the ball to hit the upright and the ball being cleared by the defence. Malta tried hard and were by now dominating, but their efforts remained unawarded, and as often happens it was the home team to seal the issue with a well taken shot by Nazarov  from outside the area to finish a counter attack which found the Maltese rearguard outnumbered. Malta defintely deserved better than a 2-0 defeat. The teams lined up as follows  Azerbaijan  Malta 1Kamran Ağayev (Gk)1Andrew Hogg (GK)2Gara Garayev2Jonathan Caruana5Maksim Medvedev3Steven Bezzina6Badavi Guseynov4Steve Borg14Rashad F. Sadigov (C)5Andrei Agius16Javid Hüseynov8Roderick Briffa (C)17Vüqar Nadirov11Rowen Muscat19Rahid Amirguliyev13Andre Schembri20Namik Alesgerov16Paul Fenech21Arif Daşdemirov17Ryan Camilleri22Afran İsmayılov19Alfred Effiong Substitutes  12Emil Balayev (Gk)12Justin Haber (Gk)23Andriy Popoviç (Gk)23Henry Bonello (Gk)3Magomed Mirzabekov6Ryan Fenech4Mahir Şükürov7Mark Scerri7Vagif Javadov9Jean Paul Farrugia8Eddy İsrafilov10Andrew Cohen9Magomed Kurbanov14Conor Borg10Elvin Mammadov15Jurgen Pisani11Ruslan Gurbanov18Bjorn Kristensen13Dmitri Nazarov20Stephen Pisani15Ruslan Abıshov21Ryan Camenzuli18Joshgun Diniyev22Zach Muscat     Coach   Robert Prosinečki Pietro Ghedin     Referee   Halis Özkahya (FIFA and Turkey)   Assistant referees   Çem Satman and Ekrem Kan (FIFA and Turkey)   Fourth official   Kemal Yilmaz (FIFA and Turkey)   Additional assitant referees   Mete Kalkavan and Tolga Özkalfa (FIFA and Turkey)