Malta 1
Mifsud 47
FYR Macedonia 1
Trickovski 35
The new Malta FA president, Norman Darmanin Demajo, must have been delighted last night as the national team blended a patient start with increased ambition to earn a draw against the highly-rated MYR Macedonia.
On his part, coach John Buttigieg will have taken many plus points even though his team failed to press home their second-half superiority.
Macedonia took advantage of a tentative Malta start to dominate and open the score but Malta gained in confidence as the match progressed, injecting tempo and cohesion into their game after adopting holding tactics for the opening period.
Buttigieg took the opportunity to switch systems as well as personnel. Macedonia favoured the 4-3-3 as the hosts began with a rigid 4-4-2 formation with Footballer of the Year Shaun Bajada roaming fairly but taking care to anchor himself to the left touchline and dropping back deeper than he usually does for Birkirkara. Buttigieg opted to deploy Michael Mifsud as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation after the break and the move paid better dividends.
The Malta coach conducted a revamp of his early line-ups to give new members in the squad an opportunity to shine. His decision to include Gareth Sciberras in midfield necessitated some positional switches with Jamie Pace detailed to provide cover for defence and Roderick Briffa assigned to patrol the left flank and check the moves of Inter striker Goran Pandev. Up front, Mifsud was supported by Daniel Bodganovic.
In the ninth minute, Sciberras burst forward from midfield and, as he was tackled, he released the ball for Sheffield United player Bogdanovic who, however, was anticipated by keeper Tome Pacovski who got the ball first.
Malta were enjoying more possession and two minutes later, Sciberras, of Marsaxlokk, had the first golden opportunity to score when he picked a harmless-looking pass and took advantage of Macedonia’s invitation to shoot, sending a rising 25-metre drive just off the goalpost.
At the back, Andrei Agius and Jonathan Caruana formed an impressive central defensive partnership but Edward Herrera, who was included by Buttigieg to fill the void left by Alex Muscat, and Carlo Mamo had little time to settle as they were outpaced, at times, by the brilliant pair of Pandev and Slavco Gjurovski.
Inter striker Pandev posted the warning signs as early as the 13th minute when he escaped a disjointed offside trap and forced a fine save from Andrew Hogg. The ensuing corner was diverted onto the bar by Ilco Naumoski.
Macedonia had hinted at their superiority and confirmed it after 35 minutes. Pandev delivered an effort against the bar which left Hogg stranded but the rebound fell kindly for Ivan Trickovski who headed home.
Although it was a stunning counter-punch, Malta came out fighting after the interval with Mifsud equalising just two minutes into the restart.
Briffa was the creator with a fine right-wing delivery which Mifsud diverted past Pacovski with a diving header.
The equaliser was the cue for a period of Malta domination.
They showed signs of shaking Jonuz Mirsad’s side out of their imperious stride when Mifsud brought a desperate save from Pacovski after the nippy striker had caused confusion in the Macedonia box on 54 minutes.
Buoyed by the goal, Malta started stroking the ball around confidently, Mifsud’s lack of control letting him down before he shot just wide after an excellent link-up with Pace.
On 64 minutes, Sciberras headed wide after Pace’s up-and-under through pass found him unmarked in the box.
Pace was inspirational as playmaker and Mifsud made another darting run to further stretch the Macedonian defence across the field.
On 71 minutes, substitute Ryan Fenech manoeuvred himself into some space in midfield and thread a ball through to Mifsud who hit the foot of the post, ending a weaving run across the penalty area with a powerful finish.
Macedonia offered little in the second half and with 18 minutes left, Buttigieg replaced Briffa with Andrew Cohen in a bid to press home the supremacy.
It was to no avail though but the Malta coach knows that the second half performance did inject a breath of fresh life in the team ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Comments
John Buttigieg: “This was an encouraging performance ahead of the Euro Championship qualifiers next month. The first half wasn’t really what we were expecting but after the break we played well and, perhaps, deserved something better than a draw.
“This was our first showing and I’m happy with the way we responded to their opening goal. Macedonia were on a run of four consecutive wins so they did not want to lose this one.
“I’m also satisfied with the contribution of the newcomers. Sciberras had a superb match and so did Mamo.”
Malta
A. Hogg, J. Caruana, C. Mamo (46 C. Failla), G. Sciberras (65 R. Fenech), A. Agius, S. Bajada (80 P. Fenech), R. Briffa (72 A. Cohen), M. Mifsud, D. Bogdanovic, E. Herrera, J. Pace.
Macedonia
T. Pacovski (80 Nuredinoski), G. Popov, V. Lazarevski (63 V Sikov), I. Mitreski (57 B. Grncarov), N. Noveski, S. Georgievski (75 N. Gligorov), F. Decpopovski, I. Trickovski (55 A. Stojkov), M. Gjurovski (66 A Alimi), G. Pandev, I. Naumoski (72 B. Ibraimi).
Referee: Gabriele Rossi (San Marino).
Yellow card: Mitreski.