King inspires Norway to win in Malta

• Norway off the mark in Group H with comfortable win in Malta
• Joshua King makes first for Mats Møller Daehli then pair swap roles for second
• King heads the third just after half-time to remove all doubt
• Malta still without a point
• Next games: Malta v Italy, Norway v Bulgaria (Monday)

Norway bounced back from losing their UEFA EURO 2016 curtain-raiser to Italy with a comfortable win in Malta.

Both these teams lost their opening Group H matches 2-0 but it was Andrew Hogg in the Malta goal who was busy from the off, making early saves from Joshua King and Mats Møller Daehli. However, Hogg was beaten in the 22nd minute, King playing a perfect diagonal pass for Daehli to slip the ball through the legs of goalkeeper.

It was two four minutes later and this time King was the scorer, racing onto Daehli's through ball and skipping away from the challenges of a pair of defenders before striking past Hogg from the same left-side angle as the first goal. Malta saw more of the ball later in the first half but Norway were still comfortably on top.

The third arrived at the start of the second period, King looping in a header from captain Per Ciljan Skjelbred's high cross. Tarik Elyounoussi was then denied by Hogg at point-blank range, and he also grabbed the ball from King's feet when a hat-trick looked certain.

King was replaced by Håvard Nielsen with 16 minutes to go, perhaps with Monday's Bulgaria visit in mind. They did not add to their three goals but Norway should be in decent spirits.