Melita punish Fgura
Fgura U Melita 1 4
Melita gained a precious victory against direct contenders in the relagation battle thanks to three goals in the last half an hour of the game.
The game was rather timid and never reached high standards but Melita were surely the better team as they exposed Fgura’s definciencies in defence.
Melita forged ahead in their first attack after only three minutes when Axl Xuereb passedtowards Alan Borg Olivier who first timed low into the net. Fgura failed toreact and Melita had little difficulty in controlling, but failed to becreative in their counter breaks.
Melita went closea gain thorugh a dead ball situation on 35 minutes when Cornago’s freekick wasmet by Jean Pierre Attard who headed slightly wide. effort by Garcia Vidal went over the bar. But Pieta regained control of the game and on 31 minutes a Neil Pace Cocks drive was brilliantly saved by Bonnici.
On 38 minutes Pieta were back in front when from a Neil Pace Cocks freekick, Christian Grechfired the ball home from close range. But Pieta’s joy was shortlived as two minutes later Lija were back on level terms when Schembri passed towards ErjonBeu who easily slotted home.
Lija started the second half on a top note with Montfort making two outstanding saves off a beu shot and an Ige header. On 50 minutes Montfort was again outstanding
On the resumption Melita had a good opportunity but Borg Olivier headed wide and on 50 minutesFgura drew level when Jadean passed towards Warren Chircop who shot home fromclose range. On 57 minutes melita were back in front when Emilio Cornago firedhome from close range an Aiden Mizzi cross from the right.
On 68 minutes Melitasealed the issue with a third goal when Toriano Singleton scored after a fastbreak. Fgura pushed desperately forward leaving gaping holes at the back withMelita missing a couple of sitters in front of goal until substitute MatthewGroves scored the fourth goal with two minutes from time.
B.Bartolo, D. Aquilina (R. Spiteri), E. Uzeh, G. Chircop, C. Fenech, J. Barbara(O. Mifsud), D. Cachia, V. Dos Santos (J. Dalli), W. Chircop, M. Spiteri, saving a Babic header. On 68 minutes Lija took the lead for the first time when Beu managed to cross from the goal line towards Schembri whose crossshot found Ige unmarked who shot home from close range.
M.Montfort, K. Micallef, C. Degabriele (S. Bartolo), N. Pace Cocks, C. Gauci, G. Mensah, J.M. RuizPerez, C. Grech, I. Jalo (Y. Dimitrov), C. Stewart (J. Busuttil), J. Scicluna
L. Bonnici, C.Cassar, P. Babic, P. Borg (L. Muscat), D. Scerri, E. Beu, L. J. Schembri, A. Galea (M. Clinch), J. Garcia Vidal (B. Antignolo), A. Ige, A. Borg
Mario Apap W.Jadean.
N. Grima,M. Galea, A. Mizzi, R. Parrado, T.Singleton (M. Groves), M. Fenech, E. Cornago, J.P. Attard, A. Xuereb, A. Borg Olivier (J. Abela), N. Bradshaw (T.Naudi).
MatthewDegabriele Naxxar L Mqabba Lija A Senglea A Qormi Vittoriosa S Sirens Pieta H Melita Rabat A Marsa Għargħur Fgura U Zebbug R P 10 10 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 9 W 8 5 6 5 6 5 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 D 0 2 2 3 0 1 1 0 3 1 0 2 2 3 L F A Pts 2 18 7 24 2 11 5 20 2 21 12 20 1 21 7 18 4 11 12 18 4 20 14 16 5 15 17 13 6 16 14 12 4 11 17 12 6 10 17 10 6 11 15 9 5 12 22 8 6 6 19 8 5 9 14 6