Women's Football Under 15: Malta 1 vs Romania 0

Gianluca Lia In the first friendly match from two played this morning at the Centenary Stadium, Malta won with a sole goal scored after half an hour of play thanks to Keeva Camilleri. In the opening minutes, Malta were superior to their opponents but failed to finalise their attacks. In the 21st minute, Romania almost opened the score when Camelia Moraru went past the goalkeeper but Malta’s defensive line made it in time to clear the attack. Malta kept dominating the match and in the 25th minute, Maria Farrugia was very close to open the score with an insidious cross but none of her team-mates made it in time to finalise from the cross. Malta’s constant efforts were rewarded in the 32nd minute when Keeva Camilleri transformed a precise through ball from Kathryn Ellul into a goal, making it 1-0 for the home side. The second half was quite another story with the 1st dangerous play coming in the 51st minute from Romania. Few minutes later, Maria Farrugia had almost doubled the score for Malta when she won the ball from the midfield, ran half the pitch to the goalkeeper but her effort hit the post and Romania’s defence cleared the ball away. Romania started to pile up pressure on Malta’s defence and were dangerous on two occasions in the 68th minute and 72nd minute. In the dying minutes, Patricia Ebejer kept the result in favour of the Maltese when she saved a shot from a very close distance.  Malta's starting formation was: Patricia Ebejer, Kim Borg, Chloe Ellul, Leanne Cefai, Nicole Sciberras, Celeste Grech, Katrine Ellul (Kylie Pantalleresco 80), Keeva Camilleri (Demi Magrin 78), Maria Farrugia, Kaighleigh Chetcuti (Samantha Zarb 62), Sarah Urpani. Coach - Dorianne Theuma