Hibernians new league leaders
● Heavily depleted Paolites overcome stiff Mosta challenge
Hibernians became the new leaders of the Bank of Valletta Premier League yesterday as they overcame a stiff challenge offered by lowly Mosta to win three precious points.
With previous leaders Balzan defeated by Floriana, the three points enabled the Paolites to overtake their rivals at the top. Mark Miller’s side now has 32 points, two more than Balzan and four over third placed Valletta.
The Paolites were a depleted lot. Apart from the suspended Jackson Lima and Bjorn Kristensen, they also missed the services of the injured Clayton Failla, Andrew Cohen and Jorge Pereira da Silva.
In the circumstances coach Mark Miller was forced to give a start to some untried players like Conner Zammit, Kyle Obrien, Michael Shaddock and Dunstan Vella.
After the first half, Hibernians should have gone for a rest with more than a one-goal lead, having missed at least two other good chances.
Depleted as they were, not much was expected of the Paolites. And their intentions were clear right from the start – get a goal and go back in defence to operate on the break. And their tactics paid off as not only did they defend their slender lead successfully, but also went on to secure the three points with a second goal late in the match.
It can’t be said that Mosta just stared at their opponents. Far from it. But only once did they go close to scoring.
In fact, Mosta perhaps had more possession, but they failed to create any clearcut chances which would have possibly given them a positive result.
Mosta almost opened the score on the 14th minute when Vlcek advanced into the Hibs area and crossed low into the goalmouth where Dias anticipated Priso to clear from over the line with Hogg out of position.
In the 23rd minute, Hibernians took the lead from a penalty awarded after a Kurt Magro handling infringement. From the spotkick, Jurgen Degabriele made no mistake.
Four minutes later, Mosta goalie Bartolo did well to save a Johan Bezzina good try.
In the 39th minute, with Mosta pressing hard for an equaliser, Hibernians operated on a swift counter break with four players facing just two Mosta defenders, but Kurt Magro became a great saving the Blues as he stopped Degabriele.
Hibs failed again in the 44th minute when a fine move by Degabriele ended with his pass going to Shaddock, but he dallied and was eventually robbed of the ball before even getting a chance to have a pot at goal.
The second half saw Mosta attacking and Hibernians defending their precious lead, but the first real action arrived only in the 72nd minute when substitute Telles received a good ball on the right flank, advanced into the Mosta area, only to hit the ball well over the bar.
Mosta ended up in 10 men on the 77th minute when Onwudinjo was shown a red card by the official following a tough tackle on Mbong.
Despite playing in numerical inferiority, Mosta kept attacking in search of an equaliser and in the 80th minute, a Repa long distance shot had Andrew Hogg diving sideways to palm the ball out.
Hibs made sure of their win with a second goal in the 83rd minute. From a Bezzina freekick, a melee ensued in front of the Mosta goal and substitute Pearson hit home from close in. Mosta protested hotly with the official for a handling infringement, but Mr Farrugia convalidated the goal.