Malta made a winning start to their UEFA Women’s Under 17 European Championship Round 2 campaign after overcoming Lithuania 2-1 in a hard fought encounter at the Centenary Stadium on Friday.
In difficult windy conditions, Malta showed greater attacking intent from the opening stages and nearly went ahead after 14 minutes when Isabelle Said struck the post with the Lithuanian goalkeeper beaten.
The breakthrough arrived two minutes later and it came superbly. Amy Catania unleashed an excellent strike from outside the area which flew into the top corner to put Malta ahead.
Malta continued to push forward and almost doubled their lead on 20 minutes when Amberley Borg fired just wide. Catania also tried her luck again from distance on 26 minutes, narrowly missing the target.
The second goal did arrive on the half hour mark through Borg, who produced a fine individual move, dribbling past two defenders before calmly slotting the ball into the net to hand Malta a deserved 2-0 advantage.
Lithuania pulled one back seven minutes into the second half when Agata Marija Kairyte headed home following a cross from the right, setting up a tense finish.
Clear chances remained limited after that, although Malta nearly restored their two goal cushion when Olivia Nazarko delivered a dangerous ball across goal which was just missed by Borg.
Lithuania increased the pressure in the closing stages and came close to an equaliser on 80 minutes, only for Katelyn Camilleri to produce an important save from substitute Shantal Korol. A minute later, Iveta Kalvyte tried her luck with a lob from outside the area, but her effort drifted just over.
Malta, however, stood firm in the closing minutes to secure an impressive and resilient victory in their opening match of the group.
The young Maltese side will return to action on Monday when they take on Belarus in their second outing, looking to build on a very encouraging start to the campaign.
