Bulgaria survived an early scare to come from behind and rout minnows Malta, the Daily Record wrote after the players of Hristo Stoitchkov ranked on top of World Cup Group 8.

The article points out that Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov and his Bulgarian team-mates appeared to have underestimated their lowly-ranked opponents and were stunned when Malta swept into the lead in the 12th minute.

The Bulgarian coach Hristo Stoitchkov bemused the 17,000 fans at the Vassil Levski Stadium by sending out a line-up that contained only two defenders, which led to several scoring chances for Maltese forwards Mifsud and Stefan Giglio, the Daily Record says.

Bulgaria equalized in the 43rd minute through Dimitar Berbatov, who headed in a Martin Petrov cross. Hristo Yanev added the second two minutes into the second-half with a free kick and Berbatov made it 3-1 with another header nine minutes later. Chavdar Yankov hit Bulgaria's fourth three minutes from time with a blistering drive into the top right corner.

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