Five-star Greece confirm first place

Greece put five past Malta in the final home match of their successful UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying campaign to secure top spot in Group C.

Party time
Theofanis Gekas scored a hat-trick with the other goals coming from Angelos Basinas and Ioannis Amanatidis as Otto Rehhagel's men celebrated last month's qualification in style.

Early scare
The hosts survived an early scare when Malta could have taken the lead with two chances in a minute midway through the first half. Greece goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis made a great save to deny Andre Schembri and was then thankful to Christos Patsatzoglou for clearing Jamie Pace's goal-bound shot off the line.

Gekas opener
Nonetheless, the European title-holders broke the deadlock after 32 minutes when Bayer 04 Leverkusen striker Gekas turned in the rebound following a Stelios Giannakopoulos diving header. The home fans had to wait until nine minutes into the second half for the next goal, though, Basinas sending a looping volley in off the left post. Amanatidis then made it three just past the hour, drilling a right-footed shot beyond Justin Haber.

Hat-trick hero
Gekas completed his treble with two strikes in three minutes – nodding in from close range in the 72nd minute, then controlling Konstantinos Katsouranis's mis-hit before calmly finishing. Greece had several opportunities to extend the scoreline yet could not add to their tally.