Malta beats France to finish 13th in Under-15 European Championship

France 8 Malta 10 (1-2, 2-4, 3-1, 2-3)

Malta beat France 10-8 yesterday to finish in 13th place at the Under-15 European Championship being held in Portugal.

It was yet another good performance by the Maltese boys who thus won two of the five matches played.

Malta was always in control against the French with the locals scoinr four times from eight man-up situations against the two goals scored by the French, also from 8 man-ups.

Mehdi opened the score for France in the first session but two quick goals from Elijah Schenbri and Cain Miguel Cutajar gave Malta the lead in the first session.

Enrico Mallia and Jayden Cutajar made it 4-1 in the second quarter, but a Hakik brace made it 4-3.

However Cain Miguel Cutajar scored with numerical advantage and Jayden Cutajar converted a penalty to make it 6-3 for Malta by the half way stage.

France made a comeback in the third session with goals from Mercier-Chaplain and a Mehdi brace, with Jayden Cutajar converting another penalty for a partial 7-6 score.

At the start of the fourth and final session Malta made ther decisive break with goals from Enrico Mallia and a Dean Bugeja penalty.

Athur Monthorin pulled one back to make it 7-9, but with two minutes remaining Jayden Cassar sealed it with the tenth and final goal.

Novacek scored the final goal for France with 47 seconds remaining, but the Maltese kept their lead to clinch a historical 13th place.