Slovakia grateful for second-half goals

Slovakia took 52 minutes to make their pressure tell before finally securing an opening UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round Group 7 win against Malta.

Last autumn Malta became the first team from their nation to move through a round of UEFA youth competition but were under pressure immediately at the start of their mini-tournament in England. It was not until the second half, though, that Ivan Schranz and Oliver Špilár struck to give Slovakia victory.

Schranz looked Slovakia's most dangerous player, threatening twice early on, and although Siraj Eddin Arab came close for Malta – rallying with the guile of Bjorn Kristensen – their goalkeeper Carlos Dimech did well to keep out a Viktor Miklós free-kick. Slovakia were on top but the deadlock was not broken until the 12th minute of the second half, Schranz heading in Jakub Vojtuš's cross from the right after Špilár's clever hold-up play had begun the move.

Six minutes later Špilár had a goal of his own, pouncing on a rebound after Dimech parried Ján Dzúrik's stinging drive. Malta nearly got the goal their bravery deserved in the final minute but right-back Lee Galea's fierce drive was denied by Daniel Nebožka at his near post.

Winning coach Peter Štefaňák, whose side face Sweden on Monday when Malta take on England, said: "The first game in a tournament like this is always hard, and we weren't ourselves early on. Our game is all about combinations and for the opening period we were struggling to find each other.

"[Schranz] started out in midfield and later moved up front, and it was this switch that turned the game for us. Ján [Dzúrik] had a great game in defensive midfield, he did his job very well throughout and also managed to get in plenty of shooting positions and it was his shot that led to our second goal. Our main aim is to reach the finals in Liechtenstein. This win is the first small step towards that and we have two big steps coming up in the shape of Sweden and England."