Malta’s Under/19 side under the guidance of coach Michael Molzahn and his assistant Vince Carbonaro played their second friendly match against Hungary yesterday at the Gozo Stadium. After their 0-0 draw at the Ta’ Qali Training Grounds on Monday, the two teams were determined to show off their offensive capabilities.

Molzahn made wholesale changes from the team that started on Monday: only Zach Muscat, C. Grech and R. Scicluna kept their place.

Hungary enjoyed most of the possession in the early goings. Malta defended with composure but were undone in 10th minute when Kapacina’s corner was headed in from close range by L. Erdelyi. In the 17th minute the same Kapacina-Erdelyi tandem struck again. Kapacina sent Erdelyi through and the Hungarian number 10 made no mistake in front of C. Dimech, beating him with a well-placed low shot to the left of Dimech.

In the 22nd minute Hungary nearly added to their lead but Z. Muscat blocked F. Toth’s pass across the penalty area towards Kapacina. Near the half hour mark P. Poor broke down the right and crossed hard and low towards A. Rado whose first-time finish rose over Dimech’s bar.

Our youngsters tried to mount a reaction mostly with attacks down the left flank. Hungary was careful at the back determined not to let Malta back in the game. In the 32nd minute Dimech made a reaction save to deny Erdelyi the hat-trick. L. Mallia has been heavily involved in Malta’s attacks and was fouled repeatedly by the Hungarian defenders. In the 40th minute D. Holman turned the ball in from close range after Malta failed to clear Kapacina’s free-kick. In the 43rd minute Malta nearly scored when D. Micallef’s lob came back off Dombo’s bar.

Hungary started the second half on the attack and forced a series of corners. Mallia continued to be Malta’s main threat and in the 10th minute he combined with second half substitute J.P. Calleja to take the ball deep in the Hungary half, but the latter was eventually closed down by three Hungarian defenders. S. Borg and A. Azzopardi were also introduced as second half substitutes at the restart.

In the 17th minute K. Rizzo took over from C. Dimech in the Malta goal. Dimech had a good match. He was not at fault on any of the goals and he seemed to increase in confidence as time went by. This proved crucial as Malta had to withstand considerable pressure from set pieces in the opening phase of the second half.

In the 32nd minute Dombo came off his line to challenge A. Azzopardi who was on a breakaway. Referee Apap judged that the Maltese player had been fouled and signalled for a penalty. Mallia calmly slotted the ball low to the right of Dombo to pull one back for Malta.

The Hungarians lost some of their rhythm in the latter stages of the match and allowed Malta to come out of their defence and share in the exchanges, but when referee Apap blew the final whistle the score remained unchanged.

Malta: C. Dimech, T. Agius, F. Zammit, Z. Muscat, C. Grech, S. Agius, L. Mallia, D. Micallef, J.C. Cachia, I. Scerri, R. Scicluna.

Substitutes: K. Rizzo, M. Desira Buttigieg, S. Arab, A. Azzoipardi, S. Borg, R. Dalli, B. Farrugia, J.P. Calleja.

Coach: Michael Molzahn

Referee: Mario Apap

Assistant Referees: Joe Camilleri and Pierre Azzopardi