Malta coach Pietro Ghedin is hopeful his team’s positive showing in the 1-0 win over Ukraine in midweek will inspire his players to a positive result against Slovenia on Saturday.

The Maltese will be up against a Slovenia side who are desperate to revive their qualification hopes to the 2018 World Cup with victory at the Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana.

Slovenia are facing a must-win scenario as their 1-0 defeat away to Scotland in March left them third in the table, five points adrift of England and one behind Slovakia, while Malta are still without a point after five games.

Ghedin is hopeful that the feelgood factor within his squad following the cohesive performance against Ukraine will enhance Malta’s chances of getting off the mark in Group F.

“Of course, we won a good game but tomorrow is another match,” Ghedin said during the pre-match press conference.

“It’s a qualifying game and therefore it is very important, also because we don’t have any points and we need to achieve our first point if this is possible.

“But, Slovenia are a very strong team. I watched many games of Slovenia, they have good support at home and strong foreign-based players. They have improved a lot in the last two to three years.

“Tomorrow’s game will be a tough one. We need to play with confidence. Normally, our confidence is low after we lose a game but the Malta team has improved a lot.”