Citizens move on after early setback
Valletta advanced to the next stage of the Izibet FA Trophy after beating Amateur League side Zabbar St.Patrick. As expected it was an easy victory for the Citizens, a victory that arrived after an early setback as Zabbar took a surprise early lead.
Valletta who had Federico Falcone starting his second stint with them, were rather pathetic at times in the first half as they could not find a way towards goal. In the second half especially after the third goal, Valletta’s play was more fluent with Zammit netting a brace, and Valletta’s victory could have have been even bigger had they taken the chances that came their way.
After barely five minutes play the unexpected happened when from a corner action, the static Valletta defence was caught napping, Formosa mistimed his sortie and Oliveira Souza anticipated him to head home.
Valletta’s reaction was rather soft with a Pena Beltre low drive going wide. On 19 minutes Valletta drew level when Andrea Zammit’s effort from the edge of the area was fumbled by goalkeeper Lagana and Bevis was on hand to slot home the rebound.
Although in constant possession of the ball Valletta could not penetrate Zabbar’s defensive shell. They had a very good opportunity on 38 minutes, but Bevis failed to connect in front of goal to an Andrea Zammit cross from the right.
On 43 minutes Valletta finally created a slick attacking move which led to their second goal. Shaun Dimech was put through on the right by Caruana, and his low cross was met by Federico Falcone who scored from close range on his second debut for the Citizens.
Inside the first minute of the second half Valletta put their minds at rest when Bevis darted forward and crossed towards Shaun Dimech who drilled the ball home. Valletta were now in the driving seat and started to create several scoring opportunities, and Andrea Zammit scored a beauty on 58 minutes after a fine run on the left.
Andrea Zammit, surely one of the best for his side, scored again on 67 minutes with a grounder from the edge of the area.