Table toppers Ħamrun Spartans started the second round of the Premier League with a bang as they put seven goals past Balzan to retain the top position three points ahead of their closest, and as it is turning out also to be their only challengers Floriana. At the same time, most of the teams below them dropped points.
Ħamrun Spartans ….. 7 Balzan ….. 1
Ħamrun Spartans breezed through their opening match in Round 2 of the Premier League with an easy 7-1 victory over Balzan, who must have dreamed of offering a much stricter challenge after it was them that opened the scoring in the 11th minute. However, the defending champions then rose to the occasion to register their biggest win of the campaign in humiliating Balzan. It helped them retain the top of the League ladder.
Balzan gave a debut to their new signing from Floriana, Jan Busuttil. But in the end, the player must have wondered if he had made the right decision in changing clubs. The result was highly disappointing for him and his colleagues in the Balzan team.
The Spartans, who are awaiting the outcome of the decision of the MFA’s Protests Board following the protest lodged by Hibernians over the eligibility of Christian Rutjens, were in a class of their own for most of this game, but not before being the first to concede, when Aleksandar Katanic gave Balzan the lead from an Olivier Rommens assist.
However, Ħamrun managed to level the score nine minutes later from a penalty converted by Luke Montebello penalty and awarded for a foul on Ryan Camenzuli by Triston Caruana, and then also scored a second goal by Uros Djuranovic to end the first half in the lead.
A minute into the second half, Uros Djuranovic obtained his second goal when he lobbed the ball over Balzan’s goalkeeper, Golovic, to make it 3-1. From then on, it was all Ħamrun who scored four more goals, three of them by Luke Montebello, the first after 57 minutes.
In the 72nd minute, Roko Prsa potted the rebound after Seth Paintsil’s shot slammed against the crossbar, and Luke Montebello got the other two to add to his tally in two minutes at the start of stoppage time. He first converted another penalty for this hat-trick and scored a fourth a minute later from a Roko Prsa country after a Golovic blunder.
Floriana ….. 2 Santa Lucia ….. 0
Floriana somewhat recovered from the back-to-back defeats that cost them the leadership of the Premier League by opening the second round with an easy 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Santa Lucia that keeps them within reach of the league leaders, three points behind Ħamrun and ahead of third-placed Sliema Wanderers.
After obtaining maximum points from their last two fixtures that enabled them to open a six-point gap over the two bottom-placed teams, Santa Lucia entered the game hoping to add to their positive run. Despite the defeat, they gave a good account of themselves, but in the end, they were firmly beaten by a superior side.
Floriana were determined to make up for their recent poor performances and took the reins in hand from the sound of the referee’s first whistle. But after going so near to open the scoring in the 11th minute, they had to wait until the 28th minute to find a way through to the Saints’ defence to score their first goal through Mattia Veselji from a Dunstan Vella through pass.
Floriana stayed on top for most of the first session, and a shot by Mattia Veselji was deflected to corner by the losers’ defence, and from the resulting corner, goalkeeper Da Paz saved a humdinger from Carlo Zammit Lonardelli.
Floriana’s insistence on the Saints’ goal became even more pressing in the second half, and efforts by Mastias Nicolas Garcia were either blocked or foiled by goalkeeper Da Paz, who rose to the occasion to save on shots by Maksim Valadzko and Mattia Vesslji.
Santa Lucia’s only reaction arrived in the 77th minute when Jack Grech’s long-range shot sailed over the bar.
Although the Greens kept the initiative throughout the match, they had to wait till three minutes into stoppage time to make sure of all three points when they scored a second goal by substitute Lorenzo De Grazia.
Sliema Wanderers….. 0 Birkirkara….. 0
At the end of a highly balanced match against Birkirkara, Sliema Wanderers missed the chance to keep up within reach of runners-up Floriana when they could only figure in a scoreless draw. They are now three points behind the Greens in third place. They also ended up with one consolation: lengthening their sequence of unbeaten matches to six.
On the other hand, Birkirkara made no headway as they remain in fifth place, a position they now share with Hibernians and Naxxar in fifth place, a point behind Marsaxlokk.
For most of the time, Sliema seemed to have a slight edge, particularly in midfield but attempts at goal by both teams were very few and far between. The closest any team went to scoring in the first half was in the 20th minute when Geoffrey Edwin Archamepong’s effort was deflected to corner by the Birkirkara defence.
Birkirkara’s best chance fell at the feet of Andrea Zammit, whose father, Paul, manages the opposing team, Sliema. When well placed, his effort was much too soft to trouble goalkeeper Rashed Al Tumi in the Wanderers’ goal.
In the second half, the same player created Birkirkara’s best scoring opportunity for team-mate Andrei Cioalcu, but Al Tumi saved the latter’s shot with some difficulty.
Marsaxlokk….. 0 Naxxar Lions ….. 0
Marsaxlokk had enough scoring chances against Naxxar Lions to win all three points and improve their standing in the league table even further. But in the end, although Naxxar played second fiddle for most of the game, they still managed to share the points in a goalless draw.
Marsaxlokk threatened from the word go and should have ended the first half well ahead. Still, Nigerian player Sunday Akinbule missed three scoring opportunities, the first after less than a minute when the Naxxar goalkeeper, Matthias Debono, blocked his shot. After 35 minutes, his header was turned to corner by the Naxxar keeper, and before the end of the session, Debono also smothered his shot from close in.
In the second half, the best scoring opportunity fell at the feet of Naxxar’s Mark Fenech from an Edson Cerqueira Farias corner, but Marsaxlokk’s goalkeeper Marko Drobnjak saved his attempt to deny Naxxar from taking an undeserved three points.
Hibernians….. 3 Gżira United….. 2
Hibernians found it hard to make any headway against Gżira United, but in the end, they came from behind to earn the points in a win by the odd goal in five that helped them to share fifth position with two other teams, but well behind the table toppers.
The Paolites’ victory was dramatic. They came from behind to clinch it in stoppage time. It arrived when Gżira looked good enough to finish the match at least evenly, which would have put them in a much safer position than they are currently occupying.
Gżira went ahead after 26 minutes with a goal by Thiago Espindola, who finished off a good move with an unstoppable shot that beat goalkeeper Hugo Sacco.
However, Hibernians quickly reacted, and three minutes later, they levelled matters with a goal by Bjorn Kristensen, who scored from near in following a corner kick. But Gżira would not be undone and, in the 33rd minute, retained the lead with a headed goal by Brooklyn Borg from Lucas Macula’s pass.
At this stage, the match was providing a ding-dong battle between the two sides, and three minutes later, Hibernians again equalised through Jurgen Degabriele, who beat goalkeeper Zarkov with a low shot.
The second half was void of threatening moves, but for one by Gżira after 75 minutes, when Lucas Macula tried a shot from an angled position that the Hibernians’ goalkeeper brilliantly saved.
Valletta ….. 3 Sirens ….. 0
Valletta registered their second victory on the trot with their second 3-0 victory in succession, this time against Sirens, whose life in the Premier League looks life-threatening with only six points and not a win in sight after fourteen outings.
The day promised well for Valletta as they forged ahead after 26 minutes with a goal from a Diego Cardoso Nogueira header. They added a second through the same player 12 minutes into the second session when he dribbled past a Sirens defender before lobbing the ball over the opposing goalkeeper.
Shaun Dimech wrapped it all up with a third goal in the 82nd minute.
Mosta ….. 1 Gudja United ….. 0
Mosta again tasted victory after three months with a slender goal victory over Gudja United that earned them all three points and somewhat improved their position in the lower half of the league table. Meanwhile, Giuja’s hopes for survival keep diminishing as they remain anchored with Sirens at the bottom of the table with just six points.
Mosta scored the all-important goal after ten minutes, following a penalty action awarded for a foul by goalkeeper Justin Spiteri on the Mosta captain Zachary Brincat. The captain came up to take the spot-kick, but the goalkeeper saved his effort. Team-mate Armen Hovhannisyan was quickest on the rebound to score.
