Angelos Basinas's 66th-minute penalty gave Otto Rehhagel's men a victory. Basinas kept a cool head to dispatch the spot-kick after Vasilios Torosidis had been felled by Roderick Briffa, who was dismissed after receiving a second booking for the challenge.

Rehhagel made no fewer than six changes to the team following Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Turks and the added pace in the side in the shape of full-backs Loukas Vintra and Torosidis along with strikers Dimitrios Salpigidis and Theofanis Gekas showed as Greece dominated the match.

Salpigidis should have opened the scoring after 26 minutes when he sprung the Maltese offside trap but he drilled his shot into the side-netting from a tight angle before defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos - scorer of Greece's goal against Turkey - saw a header cleared off the line by George Mallia.

Gekas had a great chance to put Greece ahead a minute before half-time but his header was parried wide superbly by Justin Haber.

The closest the hosts came to threatening a goal was a couple of Gilbert Agius long range efforts, one which struck the face of Traianos Dellas in the first half and another which flew past the post shortly after the break.

The visitors continued to monopolise possession and chances in the second half with Gekas going close with another header and they finally got the breakthrough when Torosidis's burst into the left side of the penalty area was ended illegally by Briffa, who was sent for an early bath.

Captain Basinas sent Haber the wrong way with a calmly taken penalty into the bottom right corner.

Substitute Nikolaos Liberopoulos had two chances to make it 2-0 for Greece, first with a curling shot that was saved brilliantly by Haber and then a lob which sailed inches over the bar.

Kostas Katsouranis also hit the crossbar as the European champions finished the match strongly.