Belgium floor battling Malta U-21

BELGIUM ............................... 3 MALTA ................................... 1

Belgium fended off Malta’s second-half fight back to take a precious win that lifted them to the top of Group B and still in the hunt of a place in the U-21 European Championship finals.

It was a game of two halves with the Belgians holding the edge for much of the first half and taking a deserved lead.

But after the break, the Maltese managed to fight back after finding themselves two goals down as they managed to pull a goal back and had a golden opportunity through Basil Tuma to grab the equaliser but the forward fired over.

In the end, it was the Belgians who sealed the points with a third goal that lifted them at the top of the group on 13 points, level with Spain and Scotland, who yesterday beat Kazakhstan 4-1.

Belgium were in control right from the outset and created several scoring chances but were thwarted by Malta goalkeeper Hugo Sacco.

The Hibernians goalkeeper was at his best to deny Belgian skipper Eliot Matazo and Romeo Vermant.

The home side finally took the lead five minutes from half-time when Vermant connected to Engels’ corner to head past Sacco.

After the break, Belgium kept their foot on the accelerator and took just two minutes to double their lead through Jarne Steuckers.

The Maltese refused to throw in the towel and on 62 minutes they pulled a goal back when

Van Den Bosch upended Tuma inside the area and Andrea Zammit made no mistake from the spot.

The Belgians looked rattled and Tuma had the chance to make it 2-2 but fired over from inside the area.

The home side breathed a sigh of relief and went on to seal the points in stoppage time with a fine individual goal from Kazeem Olaigbe who dribbled his way past three Maltese players before planting the ball past Sacco.

BELGIUM: M. Vandervoordt, H. Siquet (63 K. Sardella), Z. Van Den Bosch, J. Spileers, T. Rommens, M. Stroeykens, A. Engels, E. Matazo (63 J. Duranville), J. Steuckers (88 N. Mbamba), M. Fofana (64 K. Olaigbe), R. Vermant (71 Y. Sylla).

MALTA: H. Sacco, O. Spiteri, J. Vassallo, M. Ellul, D. Scicluna, A. Zammit (80 J. Engerer), A. Garzia (88 K. Briffa), N. Micallef (69 K. Mohnani), G. Sciberras (88 M. Debattista), B. Tuma, K. Bondin (80 A. Borg).

Referee: Genc Nuza (Kosovo).