A late irregular goal by Jaba Kankava paved the way for Georgia’s victory yesterday killing all Malta’s hopes of securing a draw in Tbilisi.
That a second goal arrived deep into added injury time does not change the story much.
Despite this being a friendly, it was highly disappointing to see the Malta side losing in such a manner. No doubt, they did not deserve such a result, even if for most of the time, they had to play second fiddle to the home side.
Ghedin’s tactics were obvious from the start. He made it clear that this match would be ideal preparation for next Saturday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Azerbaijan.
And the Italian mentor must have been more than pleased with the performance of the defence which never yielded an inch before the two goals. But I expect him to be a little more adventurous on Saturday with the inclusion of Ryan Fenech and Roderick Briffa in midfield, not to men tion Paul Fenech as well. This experienced trio was left on the bench yesterday.
Goalie Haber was very lucky to have suffered the first goal in that manner (a clear handling infringement) after an almost perfect performance. Andrei Agius, Jonathan Caruana, Ryan Camilleri and Steve Bezzina rarely put a foot wrong, while in midfield Rowen Muscat and Andrew Cohen worked hard thoughout without much success.
It was also evident that Kristensen and Farrugia lack the necessary experience while Alfred Effiong was highly unlucky not to score on his debut.
The first half was characterised by Georgia’s domination. They took control of midfield and launched several attacks. But apart from a few scoring occasions, they could do nothing against a well organised Malta defence.
The Malta side appeared weak in midfield where Muscat, Schembri, Cohen and Kristensen found the going tough. And in attack, the lonely Jean Paul Farrugia could do little, if anything, against the robust Georgian defenders, on the few occasions that our team advanced into enemy territory.
In the second half, the Georgians maintained their domination as Malta failed to move forward – they continued trying to contain the Georgian efforts. And they were highly successful until that irregular goal killed all their hopes.
And the story could have been totally different had Effiong not been unlucky on his debut seeing his only effort hitting the upright.
On the seventh minute, it was Ryan Camilleri who avoided an awkward situation as he anticipated Chedlidze as the latter was on the point of shooting at goal.
Soon after came Malta’s reply with a long distance shot from Rowen Muscat which, however, was easily dealt with by the Georgian goalie.
In the 17th minute, it was Haber who saved Malta with an excellent save to a corner off an Oknashvili effort from the edge of the area.
Georgia kept insisting on attack and in the 33rd minute, it was Chanturia who went close with a 20-metre grounder that just missed the left upright.
Georgia went close to breaking the ice on the 56th minute. It was Okriashvili who saw his fine inswinger hitting the crossbar.
On the hour, Alfred Effiong, the Qormi striker, made his debut for the national side, taking the place of Jean Paul Farrugia.
Three minutes later, from a Cohen freekick, Steve Bezzina hit wide from the angle.
In the 69th minute, Georgia had another effort, this time by Makharadze, which went wide.
Malta almost took the lead in the 79th minute. In a rare, but splendid counterattack, Cohen found Steve Borg on the right and the City defender sent a fine through pass to Effiong. The latter outsped a defender, but was unlucky to see his shot hitting the upright with substitute goalie Revishvili (formerly of Valletta) completely beaten.
Instead it was Georgia who scored four minutes later. From a Makharadze freekick, Kankava took advantage of Haber’s bad sortie and seemed to have pushed the ball into the net with his hand. Even the player himself failed to celebrate appearing to be surprised that the point was allowed to stand.
Malta suffered the second goal in added injury time when substitute Valeri Kazaishvili went past his direct defender and beat Haber with a low shot.