Sombre Armenia win in Malta
Wednesday 12 September 2007
by Domenic Aquilina
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.
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