Malta on Saturday made a giant step towards achieving its best result ever in European waterpolo, beating Slovakia 20-11.

After winning against Israel by just one goal, the Maltese national team today gave its best performance of the competition, overcoming Slovakia who were only in the game in the opening session.

Slovakia took an early two-goal lead but by the end of the first quarter, the Maltese side had pulled back to 4-4. From then onwards, it was a different game as Malta piled up a hefty advantage, going to the change of ends on an 11-8 score. The third session was the least spectacular but Malta continued to add on to the advantage, 14-9.

The Maltese lads did not lose concentration in the last quarter and added more goals to their tally, finishing the game 20-11.

It was a solid performance from the Maltese boys, coming just hours after media reports indicated that four players were being investigated for match-fixing, with the Aquatic Sports Association saying that no formal complaint had as yet been lodged.

Malta's goals were scored by Stevie Camilleri (6), Alec Fenech (5), Liam Galea (4), Elijah Schembri (2) and one each by Ivan Nagaev, Ben Plumpton and Nikolai Zammit.

Milan will now play against Slovenia on Sunday. Today, Slovenia were held to a 11-11 draw by Israel, with the latter winning the penalty shoot-out 4-3 to take two points against Slovenia's one.

As it stands, Malta has six points against Slovenia's three, Israel's two and Slovakia's one.