Malta girls outclass Georgia in 4-0 away victory

WOMEN’S EURO 2021 QUALIFIERS – GROUP B26/11/2020 – Mikheil Meskhi Stadioni, Tbilisi, Georgia GEORGIA 0MALTA    4 The Malta women’s national team secured its best finish in a qualifying campaign for a major tournament after outclassing Georgia 4-0 in their penultimate UEFA Women’s EURO Group B qualifier, played this afternoon in Tbilisi.  It was a dominant performance by the women in red who scored four times and kept a clean sheet for the first time in this qualifying group. Sassuolo forward Haley Bugeja registered a spectacular hat-trick in her eighth appearance for the senior team while midfielder Shona Zammit could not have marked her 50th cap in a better way as she scored Malta’s opening goal. Following this victory, the Maltese side remain fifth but have joined, Israel, their opponents on Tuesday on seven points. It took some time for both teams to shake off their nerves in the early stages. Georgia came out pressing high while the Maltese team was looking to circulate the ball around to try and carve out openings. Malta threatened first when Bugeja made headway inside the penalty area but her effort was deflected away for a corner. As time went by, Malta gradually started to dominate proceedings with Georgia often resorting to fouls to break down our team’s offensive plays. Shona Zammit came close to putting Malta one up but failed to capitalise on a Rachel Cuschieri cross from the left. Captain Dorianne Theuma had an effort off target from a set-piece as the game remained goalless after half-an-hour. Malta broke the deadlock in the 34th minute when forward Bugeja darted into the box before spotting Shona Zammit who fired home from point-blank range to net her fifth goal for the national team. Georgia’s reaction came swiftly after as Ana Jojua let fly a long-range shot but effort sailed over the bar. Nonetheless, Malta doubled their lead just before the half-time whistle when Mġarr United skipper Brenda Borg found former team-mate Bugeja in the box and the latter struck her second goal of the campaign with a curling effort. After the break, Malta could have wrapped up the win after substitute Maria Farrugia ran towards goal but missed in front of goal. However, Gatt’s team still found a third through a solo effort from Bugeja who beat two opponents before firing past the Georgia goalkeeper for her second goal of the game. The Sassuolo forward secured her first ever national team hat-trick when, on the 58 minutes, she unhinged the backline with another trademark run before slotting past Tatia Gabunia. Twenty minutes of time, Farrugia had an effort on goal as the Maltese remained in contro, maintainh their four-goal to secure a famous win in Tbilisi. Next up for Malta women is a trip to Israel where they will wrap up their Group B campaign this coming Tuesday. GEORGIAT. Gabunia, G. Kadagishvili, N. Chkhartishvili, N. Danelia (E. Kakianashvili), T. Bakradze (60 A. Bolkradze), L. Chichinadze, K. Tchknoia, A. Cheminava (79 T. Epitashvili), N. Sutidze, T. Todadze (79 M. Bebia), A. Jojua. MALTAJ. Xuereb, E. Lipman (60 J. Flask), S. Farrugia, D. Theuma (64 M. Borg), R. Cuschieri (46 M. Farrugia), A. Sultana, S. Zammit (76 K. Chetcuti), C. Zammit, B. Borg, N. Sciberras, H. Bugeja (64 Y. Carabott). Referee S. Ghisletta (Switzerland).