John Culatto
In what the last international before the ground gets a facelift next year, Gibraltar got a precious goal past the Swiss.
Although the Swiss got six in reply, the gulf in class was always evident with each of the players being top professionals.
By the tenth minute the Swiss were one up after goalmouth chaos allowed Cedric Itten to put the visitors one up.
Undeterred, the boys in red continued to work tirelessly, keeping ten men behind the ball other than the lonely Tjay de Barr.
In goal, Dayle Coleing was brought in after Kyle Goldwin’s nightmare in the last game.
Despite his inexperience, he seemed to weather the early storm created by Switzerland thanks to a combination of rebounds and miskicks.
On one occasion, de Barr almost got away but was apparently held back in what would have been a sending off offence.
Referee Benoit Millot simply waved play on as the local fans screamed in frustration.
The best chance of the half for Gibraltar fell to Aymen Mouelhi.
The attacking midfielder had two stabs at a goal in a crowded box, but both were successfully blocked by the Swiss defence.
In the end, Gibraltar managed to make it to half-time just one down, with the players giving their all to the cause.
Against a disciplined, skilful, Swiss side that pressed high whenever Gibraltar was in possession, this was a real achievement.
Riposte
On the restart, a deft header from the unmarked Ruben Vargas secured the second of the game for the Swiss.
More than once, Liam Walker tried to weave his magic, but without the protection of the referee, he was just crowded out and had the ball stolen from his feet.
The third came amid another goalmouth scramble with Gibraltar all at sea at the back.
The impressive Coleing managed to get a hand to Christian Fassnacht’s effort but was unable to stop it from going in.
Gibraltar did managed to get an elusive goal, through inevitably a goalmouth scramble.
Reece Styche converted past the goalkeeper in what will be a memory to savour for the 30-year-old.
The joy for the home crowd was shortlived, however.
Within a minute, Switzerland had restored the three goal cushion through Loris Benito despite calls for offside.
Ittem added another on the 84th minute as Gibraltar started to run out of energy after two high-level internationals in three days.
With concentration levels falling, out-of-favour Arsenal man Granit Xhaka fired the ball into the bottom corner for the sixth and final nail in the coffin.
The strange performance of the referee Millot was further criticised after Styche was booked for going past a defender.
The counterattack had the scorer that day nearly alone but the defender marking him fell to the ground like he had been shot.
All in all, Gibraltar played a great game and can be proud of the performance they put in against a far superior side in every department.
