Ħamrun Spartans coach Branko Nisevic hailed his team’s fighting spirit and determination after the 2021 Malta champions produced a memorable comeback on their return to European football as they stunned Armenia’s Alashkert 4-1 to reach the second qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League.

It looked as though the Spartans were set for a frustrating night when they fell behind to a Yartek Yedigaryan goal early in the second half. But the Reds refused to throw in the towel and fought back strongly, scoring four goals without reply in the space of 20 minutes to set up a second qualifying round tie against Bosnia’s Velez Mostar next week.

“It was a memorable night,” Nisevic told the Times of Malta.

“If I had to look back at the match, there were two things that contributed to this result – character and commitment. When the team conceded the goal and found themselves two goals down the players showed great character. They said to themselves we can do more and they did more. This is one moment where we showed great character and I’m so proud of my players.

“Then there was a lot of commitment to the cause. To give you an example, our goalkeeper Henry Bonello suffered a hamstring injury during the warm-up in the opening leg and he underwent some medical treatment and still played the game.

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