Miguel Ciantar brace puts Rabat in deep trouble

SIRENS RABAT A. 2 0

Miguel Ciantar scored a brace, a goal in each half to putRabat Ajax in deep relegation trouble, with the magpies suffering their thirdsuccessive defeat.

For Sirens it was sweet revenge aftare suffering a 0-3drubbing by Rabat in the first round. Sirens fully deserved their victory asthey were the better team especially in the first half, where Orosco Anonam’sboys were always on the offensive.

In the second half the match was more balanced with Rabatimn search of the equaliser, but Sirens were never really under threat. ForSirens who are now the top positions in the standings, new signing goalkeeper JeanMatthias vella made his debut.

Sirens had efforts from Zammit and Turone Farrugiaslightly missing the target in the first minutes, with Rabat hittting back withan Aiden Azzopardi shot that was well saved by newcomer Vella.

Sirens continued to attack and had other near missesthrough shots from Matthew Bartolo and Miguel Ciantar. On 32 minutes Sirensdeservedly forged ahead when Ekani Rodriguez’s shot was partially saved byAndrew Zammit and from the rebound Miguel Ciantar slotted home from ana angle.

The second half was more balanced with Rabat more on theattack. However Sirens went close a second goal on 64 minutes when a MatthewBartolo shot on the turn slightly missed the target. Minutes later on the otherend it was Joseph Caruana’s turn to slightly miss the target.

On 75 minutes Matthew Bartolo served Vaduva who wasfloored inside the box by goalkeeper Azzopardi, and from the resultant penaltyMiguel Ciantar sealed the issue sending the Rabat custodian the wrong way.

J.M. Vella, D. Sant,T. Farrugia, M. Bartolo, L. Zammit, J. Ekani Rodriguez, M. Ciantar, R. Sala (C.Caruana), J.N. Azzopardi, L. Grech (C. Newuche), R. Vaduva (D. Martini)

A.Zammit, S. Abela, J. Caruana, S. Gauci, B. Micallef, D. Falzon, G. Bugeja, E.J.Goodman, C. Vella (O. Touray), A. Azzopardi (I. Abela), Z. Tanti

Fiodor Zammit

Standings

Naxxar L Qormi Vittoriosa S Lija A Senglea A Sirens Mqabba Pieta H Melita Marsa Rabat A Zebbug R Fgura U Għargħur P W D 14 10 1 14 9 1 14 8 1 14 7 3 14 6 5 15 7 2 14 5 4 14 7 0 14 5 3 14 6 0 15 4 2 14 3 4 14 3 3 14 2 3 L F APts 3 32 14 31 4 20 14 28 5 33 20 25 4 29 21 24 3 25 12 23 6 25 22 23 4 16 15 22 7 25 20 21 6 15 22 18 8 21 25 18 9 18 20 14 7 20 24 13 8 12 28 12 9 14 37 9