Maltese pair Tony Drago and Alex Borg were yesterday beaten 8-4 in the first round of the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool at the Outland nightclub in Rotterdam, Holland.

England, who are regarded as one of the favourites to win this competition with reigning 9-ball World Champion Daryl Peach and current European number one Mark Gray, took the opening rack after a foul by Borg gave England ball in hand.

It was soon 2-0 before an unforced error from Drago, who failed in an attempt to pot the pink 4, gave the English duo another chance and they did the rest from their for 3-0.

England’s lead soon became four racks and with a shot on the blue two from the break in the fifth looked likely to extend the scoreline even further.

They did just that as it was a near faultless effort from England, with both players working well as a team and with them producing arguably the best performance of the tournament so far.

Malta had made few mistakes but had been punished for every one as ruthless England, the competition's fifth seeds, were looking like the team to beat.

Peach and Gray continued their fine form in the sixth with both players producing fine shots.

However, they unluckily lost position and a safety battle with Malta began before Borg underhit an attempt to leave Peach with a shot on the green six.

The World Champion sunk it and it should have become 6-0 before the first real mistake from England came when Gray missed a pot on the 9-ball and left it hanging over the pocket to gift Malta an easy pot for 5-1.

In the seventh, Gray did well to escape from a snooker but could only leave the blue two in an inviting position and Malta won their second rack in a row.

But England regained the initiative by claiming the eighth after a dry break from Malta.

A two-rail escape from Drago was unsuccessful in the next and that gave England ball-in-hand, which they exploited again for 7-2.

Borg, facing a tricky pot, missed his attempt at the brown seven into the side pocket and that looked like being Malta's last shot in the competition with only the 7-ball, 8-ball and 9-ball left.

But England then missed the 7-ball and that meant Malta could have one more rack in the event.

However, 7-3 became 7-4 seconds later as the break shot left the 9-ball hanging over the pocket with Borg making a 1,2,9 combination, much to the delight of the large crowd at the venue.

However, any hope of a memorable Malta fightback ended in the next rack as Borg left a chance and that proved to be their last shot in the tournament.

Malta has never won a match in the World Cup of Pool, although they had faced tough competition in Philippines in 2006 and USA in 2007.