Sombre Armenia win in Malta

Malta 0-1 Armenia
Armenia honoured Ian Porterfield one day after their former coach passed away with a friendly victory in Malta thanks to Artur Voskanyan's first-half goal.

Malta changes
The match was preceded by a minute's silence in memory of Porterfield, who passed away on Tuesday after a long illness. Led by Porterfield's assistant Tom Jones, the visitors faced a Malta side much-changed from that which had earned a draw against Turkey in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying at the weekend. Voskanyan duly scored 26 minutes into Armenia's second friendly in four days following Saturday's 3-1 defeat by Cyprus.

Confidence boost
Without Michael Mifsud in attack Dusan Fitzel's Malta side failed to find the cutting edge to fashion a response against a determined Armenia team despite putting intense pressure on the visitors' goal for large periods of the second half. Armenia resisted all their opponents could throw at them to earn a victory that will lift their confidence ahead of the resumption of qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008™ on 13 October when they play Serbia in Group A. Malta visit Hungary in Group C on the same day.