Slovenia were dominant from the very beginning but needed a whole half to break the pesky Maltese, with Josip Iličić scoring in the stoppage time of the first period with a beautiful one-on-one action.

The 7,000 fans in Stožice Arena also saw Slovenia as the dominant team in the second half, but the home team had no real opportunities until the 84th minute, when veteran Milivoje Novaković scored his 32th goal for the national team.

This was the farewell game for the 38-year-old, who yesterday announced an end to his successful career. He is retiring as the second-best scorer for the national team and with a total of 80 appearances for Slovenia.

While it was not hard to beat the team that is dead last in group F which prior to the match had no points from five games, Slovenia will face a tough challenge in the next qualifier on 1 September on the road against Slovakia.

Slovakia are one of Slovenia's direct rivals for the second place in the group that leads to the additional play-off round. England have all but secured the first place and a direct spot in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.