Ghedin hoping for a good performance against Scotland

A still bitterly disappointed Pietro Ghedin said yesterday that he is confident that his players will rise to the occasion today and repeat the good performance shown against England.

At the start of the press conference Pietro Ghedin said that he is disappointed at the way Malta played the last 15 minutes against England on Friday. He said that Malta played exceptionally well in the first half against England never letting their opponents play their usual game.

He said that England is one of the best teams in the world and Malta could have obtained a better result apart from those disastrous last 15 minutes. Ha said that probably his players tired out and some of the goals could have easily been avoided.

Ghedin stressed that it is very difficult to play against such top teams, especially when the local players are not fully professional players. He said that his players need to recover both physically and mentally because the England game was very demanding.

About Scotland, Ghedin said that the Scots play similar football to that of England, maybe more physical Ghedin said that Effiong is in very good physical condition but did not commit himself about the use or not of the Balzan striker this evening

Ghedin praised the performance of Chiasso striker Jean Paul Farrugia, and said that with Effiong, Schembri and veteran Michael Mifsud, Malta is well geared up in attack.

Also addressing yesterday’s press conference at Hampden Park was Malta midfielder Ryan Fenech, who had missed the home match against Scotland because he was injured. He said that the players are eager to wash out the last minutes of the match against England.

He praised the Scottish side and said the players are looking forward at playing in Hampden Park. Ryan Fenech stressed that the Malta players needed to recover both physically and mentally after the match against England. However he said that the players will again do their best to obtain a good result even in this difficult match.

Fenech said that these back to back matches are very demanding on the Maltese players as they lack the necessary international experience, and our national league is played at a much slower pace than those played in Great Britain.