Malta ended its commitments in the European Championship 2014 yesterday with a splendid 10-4 victory against Switzerland.

The day before, the Maltese had also gained another victory, beating Portugal 8-6.

In the match against Portugal, Malta had to fight hard to shrug off the tenacious opposition coming from a much improved Portuguese side.

The hosts, backed by their vociferous and colourful support, were determined to avenge their defeat against Malta in Denmark.

At the change of ends, Portugal was leading 6-4 as Malta’s press and tight marking tactics were proving costly in terms of expulsions.

National coach Karl Izzo craftily switched to shifting zone and our lads, once again bolstered by the rocky performance of keeper Alan Borg Cole, kept their cool and clawed their way back to score three goals without reply in the third session.

One final goal by Jordan Camilleri, scorer of four tonight, sealed the victory amidst the jubilation of all the Maltese contingent.

Malta then finished off its commitments in the third round with the fine win against Switzerland yesterday.

There was no doubt as to where the points were going as our lads were physically, technically and tactically superior to our opponents.

Six-goal Stevie Camilleri provided most of the punch in attack while zone marking at the rear was only allowed the Swiss to take their chances from the distance with their conclusions being neutralised by effective blocks and diligent goalkeeping.

National coach Karl Izzo utilised all players at his disposal and at the final whistle all were satisfied to have been part of this successful outing.

Malta ended up in third place in the group behind Georgia and Slovakia and ahead of Portugal, Belarus and Switzerland.

After the game, ASA president Joe Caruana Curran addressed the team. He congratulated the players for their success and thanked them and their relatives for their commitment especially in what has been a particularly long season.

The national team players will now take a well-deserved break and will reassemble in January in preparation of next year’s commitments.

Results

Malta-Portugal 8-6

3-2, 4-1, 0-3, 1-0

J. Camilleri 4, S. Camilleri 2, N. Lanzon 2

Switzerland-Malta 4-10

0 – 1, 1 – 2, 1 – 2, 2 – 5

S. Camilleri 6, J. Camilleri 1, N. Lanzon 1, J. Brownrigg1, M. Zammit 1

In earlier matches, Malta had beaten Belarus 9-3 and lost against Georgia 9-3 and against Slovakia 18-9.