Gibraltar's promotion dream over after Armenia drubbing

MADRID (Reuters) - Gibraltar’s hopes of a fairytale promotion from their Nations League group ended as they slumped to a 6-2 home defeat by Armenia on Friday after a disastrous second-half performance.

The result means Macedonia, who beat Liechtenstein 2-0, will be guaranteed promotion if they avoid losing to Gibraltar in Skopje on Sunday. Armenia must beat Liechtenstein and hope Gibraltar win if they are to top the group.

Julio Ribas’s Gibraltar side secured the biggest result in their history when they won 1-0 in Yerevan last month, and it appeared a repeat was on the cards when 19-year-old Tjay de Barr opened the scoring after 10 minutes.

Armenia's Yura Movsisyan appeared offside as he levelled from close range after 27 minutes and the Chicago Fire striker hit three in the first nine minutes of the second half to take the game away from Gibraltar.

Artur Kartashyan made it five before substitute Adam Priestly restored some pride for the hosts with a fine solo effort. Alexander Karapetian completed the rout in stoppage time.

(Reporting by Joseph Cassinelli, editing by Ed Osmond)