Gżira United keep marching on

four changes for Tarxien.

Andre Scicluna started as a central defender instead of his usual left-back position. Matthew Spiteri and Artur Benes started in midfield while Ryan Darmanin returned from suspension in as the main striker.

The early stages of the game showed the superiority of Gżira as they held the initiative with Roderick Briffa almost opening the score in the first action of the game with a shot from outside the box.

Gżira were again dangerous on the 11th minute as Amadou Samb shifted the ball on his left from the edge of the small box but Christian Cassar saved his central ef- fort.

Time was passing by and Gżira were still better. They had the best chance of the half in the 21st minute as Tounkara received a perfect pass by Andrew Cohen, dribbled past Cassar and crossed a low ball to Okoye who needed only to score from close range. He failed to hit the ball well enough and finished in the direction of Amadou Samb who fired over the bar.

Tarxien’s first effort on goal came four minutes later with a shot by Ryan Darmanin that forced Anthony Curmi to tip into a corner.

Gżira were awarded a penalty ten minutes before the break, for a foul by goalkeeper Christian Cassar on Samb.

The same player scored in his top right corner from the penalty spot.

Darren Abdilla’s team started the second on the attack and managed to double the score with their first real action of the half as Ndubisi Okoye fired past Cassar after receiving a good ball from an ideal position.

Gżira were controlling the game at their pace, while Tarxien couldn’t find a way to be dangerous.

Gżira continued to attack and in the middle of the second half, captain Moises Avila Perez came close with a powerful shot from the penalty area that was saved by Cassar.

Things were looking good for Gżira, and they could have confirmed the win four minutes from time, but substitute Luca Brincat missed the target from close range after a brilliant cross from the right side by Nikolai Muscat.

Tarxien managed to claw one back on the 90th minute as Artur Benes received a pass from Darmanin and slotted past Anthony Curmi. But this goal came late and Tarxien couldn’t make one last push to save the game.

■ The result might give an indication that the match was balanced, but in fact it was a fine display by Gżira United. They managed to take the lead in the first half and practically controlled the game quite with ease as Tarxien failed to mount any...