The Malta Independent on Sunday
Qormi no match for superior Wanderers
the lion’s share of the attacking throughout.
They dominated play from start to finish as Qormi were forced to defend for very long stretches.
The Yellow Blacks resisted till the 32nd minute when Sliema deservedly took the lead, but from that moment onwards, Qormi rarely appeared capable of providing Sliema goalie Jake Galea with some anxious moments.
The first action arrived on 24 minutes when a Mattias Mucciardi freekick was deviated to a corner by the Qormi barrier.
In the 29th minute, off a Ryan Fenech freekick, a Claudio Pani shot was deviated goalwards by a Qormi defender, but goalie Azzopardi managed to tip the ball to a corner.
Sliema took the lead on 32 minutes. Off a Marzouk cross, the ball was only partially cleared by goalie Azzopardi and the ball ran kindly to the unmarked Mucciardi who had no difficulty in planting it into the net.
In the 44th minute, it was goalie Azzopardi who denied Sliema a second goal, saving a close range header from Marzouk.
Just before the interval, Qormi finally threatened when from a Kim freekick, it was Ferreira whose header brought the best out of Sliema goalie Galea who dived sideways to turn to corner.
Sliema started the second half on attack and in the 59th minute, Marzouk missed an opportunity when he blasted high from a good scoring position.
Sliema insisted and on 67 minutes it was Ryan Fenech who saw his grounder just missing the target after a deviation.
Sliema scored their second goal on 70 minutes.
De Assis received a through ball from midfield and advanced to the edge of the area from where he unleashed a fine grounder which had Azzopardi beaten all ends up.