Bulgaria kept alive their hopes of gaining qualification for Euro 2016 after Ivelin Popov's second-half header gave them a slender 1-0 victory away at Malta this evening.
The game's first real attempt did not arrive until around the 20-minute mark when Bulgaria's Popov struck a long-distance effort that was kept out by Justin Haber down at his bottom right corner.
The Bulgarians began to grow in prominence and Vladimir Gadzhev soon produced a decent cross for Nikolay Bodurov, who wastefully headed wide from the centre of the Malta box.
It took the home side 30 minutes to create something in front of goal, but it almost paid dividends as Roderick Briffa was expertly stopped by Bozhidar Mitrev having got off a smart effort from the left side of the area.
Bulgaria responded quickest to proceedings after the break and they took the lead in the 56th minute when Popov finished coolly into the bottom-right corner following a set-piece situation.
The away side might have made it 2-0 with just a few seconds to go as Ivaylo Chochev teed up an enterprising Stanislav Manolev, but he was denied by the crossbar, leaving the game to end 1-0.
Christopher Dodd
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