Bulgaria defeat unlucky Malta

The result could have been totally different as Malta were denied by the woodwork twice.

Malta started the match immediately on the attack. After just one minute of play, Michael Mifsud served Edward Herrera who then passed the ball in the direction of Andre Schembri, but the latter failed to connect.

On the fourth minute, off a cross by Andre Schembri, Andrei Agius headed just wide.

Bulgaria managed to take the lead on the ninth minute. Radolslav Dimitrov had his shot deflected by goalkeeper Justin Haber in an attempt to clear for a corner.

On the 16th minute, Clayton Failla was unlucky when his freekick was deflected by goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov to then hit the woodwork and into a corner.

Justin Haber was at the top of his game when he performed a great save on a powerful long-distance shot by Todor Nedelev on the 27th minute. Georgi Milanov had his shot go wide on the 30th minute.

On the 52nd minute, luck was again not on Malta's side when Andre Schembri dribbled the ball past four defenders to then have his shot hit the woodwork.

Bulgaria managed to double their lead on the 60th minute. Emil Gargorov served Georgi Milanov, the latter had his shot blocked, but off the rebound, Gargorov made no mistake with his shot to make the score 2-0.

Malta started to press forward and Michael Mifsud had his effort deflected into a corner on the 69th minute. On the 75th minute, a freekick by Edward Herrera was deflected into a corner by Mihaylov.

Malta reduced Bulgaria's lead on the 78th minute. Terence Vella passed the ball to Edward Herrera, the latter beat the Bulgarian goalkeeper with his shot from the right.

On the 88th minute, Andre Schembri missed a chance to equalise when he failed to connect off a great cross.

MALTA Justin Haber, Gareth Sciberras, Andrei Agius, Luke Dimech, Clayton Failla (66' Ryan Fenech), Michael Mifsud (76' Terence Vella), Edward Herrera, Andre Schembri, Rowen Muscat, Ryan Camilleri (82' Jonathan Caruana), Alex Muscat.
Subs not used: Andrew Hogg, Justin Grioli, Andrew Cohen, John Mintoff, Paul Fenech, Shaun Bajada.
Coach: Pietro Ghedin

BULGARIA Nikolay Mihaylov, Radoslav Dimitrov, Nikolay Bodurov, Ivan Ivanov, Veselin Minev, Svetoslav Dyakov, Vladimir Gadzhev, Ivelin Popov, Georgi Milanov (81' Hristo Zlatinski), Emil Gargorov (61' Dimitar Rangelov), Todor Nedelev (66' Spas Delev).
Subs not used: Vladislav Stoyanov, Stanislav Manolev, Yordan Minev, Iliya Milanov, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Georgi Iliev, Alexandar Tonev, Ventislav Hristov, Petar Zanev.
Coach: Lyuboslav Penev

Referee: Alexandru Dan Tudor (ROM)
Asst. Referees: Cristian Constantin Nica, Aurel Onita (ROM)
Fourth Official: Pavel Cristian Balaj (ROM)
Yellow Cards: Schembri, Rangelov, Bodurov, R. Fenech, Dyakov
Scorers: 9' Radoslav Dimitrov, 60' Emil Gargorov, 78' Edward Herrera