Historic win for Malta in Darko Cukic memorial

Malta v Montenegro 10-7 (1-1, 4-1, 0-5, 5-0)

On the second day of the competition, Malta were back in the pool for the first match of the day against Montenegro.

Early in the first session, Malta conceded a penalty which was converted by Montenegro. Mark Castillo equalised mid-way through the session. Malta could have closed the session ahead but unfortunately the goalkeeper saved a penalty.

During the first possession of the second session, Daniel Tully scored a cheeky goal on the buzzer and Mark Castillo scored again to make the score 3-1. Ryan Galea converted a penalty and Montenegro converted a man-up situation. Mark Demarco closed the session with a goal from 6 metres.

In the third session Montenegro upped their game and scored 5 times with no response. But our boys were not ready to throw in the towel and 2 well taken shots by leftie Ryan Galea levelled the score at 7-7.

With 3:58 left, Matthew Mifsud converted a penalty to put Malta back in front. Mark Castillo converted another penalty and Sam Gialanze closed the match with 0:44 left.

Serbia v Malta 12-6 (5-0, 3-2, 3-3, 1-1)

Playing the last match of the day against the strong home team of Serbia was by far not easy.

As the session scores show, Malta were very slow to start and in fact conceded 5 goals with no reply. Daniel Tully scored the first goal of the second session and Mark Castillo converted a penalty to make the score 6-2. Unfortunately, Malta conceded two other goals at the end of the session.

Serbia scored another two goals and Malta responded through Sam Gialanze and Alec Fenech. Andrea Mallia scored Malta’s 5th goal. Malta’s other goal was scored by Sam Gialanze.

Coach Anthony Farrugia was very pleased with the team’s performance against Montenegro which was a historic victory. The result was well deserved and a just reward for the team spirit, determination and perseverance.

He added: “In our second match, unfortunately we had a slow start which resulted in a 5-0 advantage for our opponents but throughout the rest of the match we were on a par.”