Gibraltar hold Slovakia in maiden international

Gibraltar opened their international account with a goalless draw against Slovakia in a friendly played at the Estádio Algarve in southern Portugal.

UEFA's newest member national association gave their more illustrious visitors – contenders at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa – a testing 90 minutes and were even in control for long periods. Allen Bula's side showed themselves to be resilient in defence, with Chester FC veteran Danny Higginbotham taking charge of a five-man rearguard.

Ján Kozák's team struggled to impose their own rhythm, testimony to the performance of Gibraltar, who came close to taking the lead when Adam Priestly found himself on the end of a neat move. Jeremy Lopez's pass found Priestly but the striker's effort was well saved at his near post by Tomáš Košický.

Slovakia nearly scored themselves shortly before the interval, Jakub Sylvestr climbing well only to see his header cleared off the line by Daniel Duarte. It was as close as either side came, leaving Bula to reflect on a memorable evening in Faro.

"This is a proud result for Gibraltar and the players gave me so much more than 100%," he told UEFA.com. "It was a dream to play our first international friendly and now we have another dream come true thanks to this great result."