SLOVENIA  1

Lovric 45 pen.

MALTA       0

Slovenia

J. Oblak, P. Stojanovic, J. Bijol, M. Mevlja, J. Balkove, A. Gnezda, J. Kurtic, J. Mlakar (59 M. Zajc), S. Lovric (69 J. Gorenc-Stankovic), D. Bohar (59 D. Cringoj), B. Sesko (69 A. Sporar).

Malta

H. Bonello, Z. Muscat, E. Pepe, K. Shaw, C. Attard, T. Caruana (78 S. Pisani), T. Teuma, J. Corbalan (46 R. Camenzuli), J. Mbong (71 L. Gambin), S. Dimech (57 P. Mbong), A. Satariano (57 L. Montebello).

Referee Andris Treimanis (Latvia).

Yellow cards: Kurtic, Satariano, Montebello, Muscat.

Slovenia needed a penalty from Sandi Lovric on the stroke of half-time to edge past a resilient Malta in a World Cup qualifier in Ljubljana on Saturday.

It was somewhat a harsh result on the national team who for long stretches of the match more than matched their opponents and were undone by a controversial penalty decision on the stroke of half-time from which Lovric grabbed a crucial winner for Slovenia who have now moved on the seven-point mark, three adrift of top spot in Group H.

Malta on the other hand remained second from bottom on four points but surely Mangia’s boys left the Ljubljana stadium with their heads held high as they produced another bright showing.

In fact, after a nervous start, the Maltese managed to contain their opponents and also managed to create some clear-cut chances particularly through a Joseph Mbong strike in the first half that could have easily given them the lead.

Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta