Malta 1

Finland 2

An 80th minute striker fromTerence Vella’s was not enough to save a point against a superior Finnish side yesterday.

Malta therefore suffered a second consecutive defeat at home yesterday going down to Finland by two goals to one.

Overall, it was another disappointing performance from the Malta side as, apart from a few brief moments in the first half, our boys rarely managed to worry the Finns, before Vella scored that late goal, albeit a fine effort.

Leighton Grech was easily Malta’s best player. He inspired his team-mates to move forward whenever he had the ball at his feet. At the back, goalie Balzan showed great agility and also inspired confidence in his defenders.

It was a defeat which saw Malta dropping to fourth place in the Group standings. Finland are the new leaders on 10 points, followed by Slovenia on seven and Sweden on six.

Played in scorching sunshine and in front of a small crowd, the match had a quiet start but after Finland took the lead, Malta seemed shaky at the back as the Finns took command of midfield, moving forward with purpose.

The Maltese boys lacked ideas and whenever they tried to move forward they found it rather difficult to penetrate.

But when they settled down, they managed to create two chances which provided the Finns’ defence with some worries.

But it was not enough to deny the Finns a second goal a few minutes from the interval, even if this was a gift by defender Camilleri who, otherwise, had a relatively good match.

The match had little or no story in the second half, especially after Malta’s Mark Scerri was ordered off the pitch following a bad foul.

Although the Finns were superior, it must be said that even in 10 men, Malta tried to move forward, but the Finns closed all gaps at the back and never looked like capitulating before Vella scored Malta’s consolation goal 10 minutes from the end.

Finland took an early lead on the 10th minute when off a Schuller cross, Lauri Dalla Valle hit home first time past a beaten Balzan.

Ten minutes later, Malta conceded a freekick outside the area, but Schuller’s shot was saved by Balzan and eventually cleared by a defender.

On the 25th minute, Malta went close to an equaliser when Kristensen let loose a fine shot from the edge of the area, but the Finnish goalie was outstanding as he turned to corner in style.

Malta again threatened on 35 minutes when off a Tristan Caruana corner, Kristensen saw his header going over the bar.

It was 2-0 in the 43rd minute. And what a gift it was. Yessous Camilleri’s backpass to the goalkeeper was short and Roope Riski darted in like an arrow to score into the far corner.

Just before the interval, Camilleri made amends for his earlier mistake as he anticipated Pennanen to clear in extremis, avoiding a possible third goal.

Malta made its presence felt at the start of the second half when from a Grech cross, Camilleri had a header going wide.

On the 55th minute, Malta ended in 10 men when Mark Scerri was shown a direct red card for a tough tackle on Schuller.

Malta had to defend for long stretches, but even the Finns were rarely dangerous as Malta improved at the back.

In the 80th minute, Malta pulled one back when Terence Vella received a ball on the edge of the area and his fine effort completely beat goalie Sahlgren.

Malta pressed hard near the end, but the Finns held on to their slender lead till the end.

Malta D. Balzan, Z. Muscat, O. Bugeja (JP Farrugia), Y. Camilleri, M. Gauci, R. Muscat (T. Caruana), M. Scerri, B. Kristensen, L. Grech, S. Pisani (M. Ciantar), T. Vella.

Finland SP Sahlgren, M. Sumusalo, T. Mantyla, R. Schuller (D. Tammilehoto), R. Riski (J. Lahde), P. Pennanen, D. Abdulahi, T. Rannankari (T. Heikkila), T. Lahti, L. Dalla Valle, P. Forsell.

Referee N. Doyle (Ireland)

Asst referees C. Delaney, A. Lynch

4th official T. Connolly

Scorers L. Dalla Valle 10, R. Riski 43, T. Vella 80,

Yellow cards L. Grech, T. Mantyla, M. Sumusalo, R. Riski, M. Gauci, B. Kristensen, P. Pennanen,

Red card M. Scerri 56.