Fagbeja brace saves Gharghur

Lija A Gharghur 2 2

A Muda Fagbeja brace, one from the penalty spot saved newly promoted Gharghur against Lija yesterday in a keenly contested encounter. Lija were the better team, and should have grabbed the points at stake, but they failed to kill off the match and Gharghur struck fifteen minutes from time to snatch a point.

After barely three minutes play Lija took the lead when Jorge Garcia Vidal made his way iniside the box and crossed towards Erjon Beu who scored with a low drive. Gharghur immediately pushed forward, but Lija almost doubled the score on 13 minutes when Sammut passed towards the completely unmarked Garcia Vidal in front of goal, but the Lija player failed to connect.

On 18 minutes Gharghur drew level when Muda Fagbeja was floored inside the box by Carl Cassar and from the resultant penalty the same Fagbeja made no mistake, with Bonnici almost blocking his shot.

Nine minutes later Lija were back in front when Garcia Vidal headed home from close range a good Erjon Beu cross from the left. On 37 minutes Gharghur went close to an immediate equaliser with his effort well saved by Bonnici.

Lija dominated the last part of the first half with Carl Cassar’s shot slightly missing the base of the upright following a good pass by Ige. Just before the break a Garcia Vidal shot hit the side netting.

Four minutes into the second half Adeshina Ige missed a sitter in front of goal with his point blank shot saved by Valletta. Lija continued to dictate matters but failed to score a third goal to kill off the match.

With fifteen minutes to go Gharghur were back on level terms when substitute Delima passed towards the unmarked Muda Fagbeja who drilled the ball home. In the remaining minutes Gharghur almost snatched a dramatic victory when Luke Busuttil dribbled his way past a couple of defenders but his effort went slightly over the bar.

Z. Valletta, L. Galea, K. Fedele, J. Azzopardi, L. Busuttil, M. Fagbeja, W. Barbosa, J. Briffa, C. Gie (E. Delima Nicolau), D. Sciberras (L. Vella), I. Chircop (R. Brincat)

L. Bonnici, C. Cassar, P. Babic, A. Galem, D. Scerri, E. Beu, A. Sammut (P. Dandolo), M. Clinch, J. Garcia Vidal, P. Borg (L. Muscat), A. Ige (K. Cutajar). Sandro Spiteri