Malta 2-2 Turkey: Visitors lose ground

Group C

	Malta 2 - 2 Turkey 41' Brian Said 1 - 0 45' 1 - 1 Halil Altintop 76' Andre Schembri 2 - 1 78' 2 - 2 Servet Cetin
2		2

Turkey lost ground in the race to qualify for Euro 2008 when they were surprisingly held to a 2-2 draw by Malta in a Group C qualifier on Saturday.

Needing a victory to narrow the gap with pacesetters Greece, Turkey twice came back from a goal down with second half strikes from Halil Altintop and Servet Cetin.

Malta took the lead five minutes before the interval when a Roderick Briffa's corner soared past a host of Turkey players and into the path of Malta defender Brian Said who drilled the ball home.

After Halil volleyed in the equaliser, following a deflection off the bar, Andre Schembri put the hosts ahead again in the 73rd minute by scrambling the ball into the net from close range.

Turkey were back on level terms three minutes later, defender Servet hitting the target with a glancing header following a corner from Hamit Altintop.

The result left Turkey trailing in third place, four points behind leaders Greece, while Malta collected their fifth point to lie sixth in the seven-team group.

Source: Soccernet.com