Valletta are new ch they wrest title on

club’s rich history from favourites Balzan on this final day of an intriguing campaign.

There was an understandable mixture of joy and relief in the celebrations that followed after the final whistle.

Valletta last lost to Gzira United way back in December.

Since then they embarked on an impressive unbeaten run of 13 matches – dropping points only against Sliema Wanderers, Balzan, Birkirkara and Floriana – to remain the only unbeaten side in this calendar year.

They have kept 17 clean sheets this season and boast the best defence in the league.

Going into yesterday’s match with equal points as Balzan, Valletta did what was required of them and beat Gzira United with goals from Matteo Piciollo and Reid Saleh as rivals Balzan stumbled against Hibernians.

The match was played in a cacophony of noise from the numerous Valletta supporters in the two main stands at Ta’ Qali National Stadium, as a few scores of Gzira fans watched from the Millenium stand.

Gzira with nothing to play for, were obliging opponents, having already secured third place of what has been a memorable campaign for them. Yesterday they were an understrength side. Suspensions to Sascha Borg and Emmanuel Okoye were summed up by, coach Darren Abdilla’s decision to drop his best scorer Amadou Samb and leaving Edison Zarate and Mosies Avila Perez on the bench.

They lacked ambition or urgency and their menace came only from a couple of promising runs from Haruna Garba, left to plough a lone furrow, and a late Andrew Cohen penalty that served only for statistical purpose.

It was therefore down to Valletta, in full force with Joseph Zerafa starting the match ahead of Jean Borg, to do the running, with the Balzan-Hibernians match played at the Hibernians Stadium undoubtedly on their minds.

Valletta, in truth, could not have made a better start. There were only seven minutes gone when the Gzira defence was caught outnumbered on a Malano low centre inside their area, Saleh’s effort was partially blocked by keeper Curmi and Matteo Piciollo slotted the ball in for his eighth goal of the season.

Valletta kept seeing more of the ball, but with Gzira holding all their players behind the ball, the Citizens struggled to find