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Bulgaria's hopes of progressing from Euro 2016 qualifying Group H suffered a potentially significant blow as they were held 1-1 at home by minnows Malta in a match the hosts dominated in Sofia.
Having lost their last two games since opening with a win against Azerbaijan, Bulgaria would have been desperate for a victory and they looked on course to do that after taking an early lead through Andrey Galabinov.
However, after failing to make the most of various opportunities, Bulgaria were pegged back when Malta - without a goal in almost a year and previously pointless in Group H - drew level through Clayton Failla's penalty just after half-time.
That was a setback for Bulgaria but they still had chances to take the win, none better than Ivelin Popov's 76th-minute penalty - but the captain blazed that over and the hosts had to settle for a hugely disappointing draw against a side ranked 157th in the world.
Few could have predicted the final scoreline as Bulgaria dominated the first half, with Galabinov on a one-man mission to fire his side back into contention in the group.
Almost every decent effort in the opening period involved the Livorno striker, including his sixth-minute strike to open the scoring.
Popov's cross to the far post was headed back into the danger zone by Mihail Aleksandrov and Galabinov dived in to poke the ball past Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg.
Galabinov had three more efforts before the powerful hitman crashed a 27th-minute volley against the crossbar.
The 25-year-old saw another shot go over as Bulgaria sought a second - but the goal would not come and the home side were stunned by a Malta equaliser three minutes into the second half.
Veselin Minev's foul on Jean Farrugia inside the area earned the visitors a penalty and Failla smashed the resulting spot-kick high past Vladislav Stoyanov.
That was Malta's first goal since November 19, 2013, and would end up earning them a surprise point as Bulgaria's efforts to find a winner fell short.
As in the first half, the hosts had their openings with Popov seeing his header just after the hour come back off the far post.
Popov had an even better chance with 14 minutes to go when Rowen Muscat was adjudged to have brought down Iliyan Mitsanski inside the box - but the Bulgaria skipper went for power over placement and his penalty clipped the top of the bar as it flew over.
ends
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MLT
