Malta 13

Serbia & Mont 24

Some terrific support from a 3,000 plus crowd at the Hibernians Ground at Corradino yesterday afternoon was not enough to push the locals to what would have been an important win.

Instead it was Serbia & Montenegro who won the points after a handsome and merited 24-13 victory which keeps Malta well away from qualification for the World Cup in France next year.

The Hibs Ground was packed to capacity yesterday as many heeded the coach’s appeal in midweek to give the side that roar to push them on.

The roar was definitely there. The crowd was well behind the players, but what Damien Neill also feared – the strength of the opposition – was also clear and it was no surprise that the Serbians coasted home quite comfortably.

On the day they proved to be a superior side and they used their obvious strength to good effect as the Maltese were in difficulty when the visitors pushed forward.

But it was definitely a positive aspect to see such a big crowd at a local sports venue giving its full support to the local side. Other associations must envy yesterday’s sight at the Hibs Ground, especially before the kick-off – there was an atmosphere rarely, if ever, seen at other sports venues.

However, despite a positive start by the Maltese who went ahead on a Joe Sultana try after just a few minutes with Dimond missing the conversion, it was the foreigners who took over with Kapor equalising and Stefanovic converting to push them 7-5 ahead.

Then came a Milan Astovac try which, however, was not converted and Serbia were leading 12-5. That lead was increased to 17-5 as Acimovic scored another try near the end of the first half though, once again, the visitors failed in their conversion.

In the second half, the Malta boys appeared to be more aggressive with the help of the wind blowing from behind their backs, but despite an Oliver Sacco try and a Dimond conversion and a Dimond penalty which brought the score close to 13-17, the Serbs again took control as Jakisic scored another try which was converted by Stefanovic to give them a 13-24 victory.

Malta lined up as follows: Tom Webb, Harry Collins, Dean Zammit, Luke Watts, David Gasan, Daniel Grima, Steve Kempster, Dominic St George, John Dimond, Oliver Sacco, Nick Warren, Jamie Caruana, Mark Cuschieri, Dominic Busuttil, Joe Sultana. Subs: Paul Cioffi, Robert Bonavia, Chris Vassallo.

Before the start of the match, everyone observed a two-minute silence in honour of the late Pope John Paul II.