Saints beat Marsa to lead the way

Marsa 1
St Patrick 3

St Patrick opened a three-point lead at the top of the standings and are now sole leaders after easily beating struggling Marsa 3-1. Bobby Giorev's side have completed their first-round commitments and look the best bet for promotion.

Peter Anizoba's show in the first half was too much for lowly Marsa. His fast pace on both flanks did all the damage as he tormented the Marsa defence for most of the match.

Ilir Pelinku's Marsa tried to shift marking on lanky Saints striker Anizoba but there was no way in stopping him yesterday.

If Anizoba was in good form, then Thomas Caruana was not far off. He was always on the right spot and his distribution on the ball provided various scoring chances.

Marsa had three players making their debut - Alan Mifsud, Neil Zarb Cousin and Sunday Eboh. In the first half they were rarely in action but improved after the changeover. Perhaps, for Marsa it was a mistake to leave Gilbert Martin on the bench.

The Saints were already celebrating after five minutes when they broke the deadlock with a superb strike from Caruana.

Seven minutes later it was Anizoba, who produced a delightful cross in the Marsa box where Caruana rose to head home.

St Patrick continued to dominate the game and on 18 minutes an Anizoba drive just missed the target. Marsa rarely troubled the Saints' rearguard, their shots from the distance never going anywhere near the target.

The Saints made the issue beyond doubt a minute before half time. It was Anizoba again whose cross found Silvio Sciberras on hand to tap the ball home at the far post.

St Patrick played a more prudent game after the break and this gave Marsa the chance to venture forward more often. Substitute Martin found Daniel Gatt unmarked but the Marsa striker shot straight at Franklin Azzopardi's safe hands.

Sciberras then released Mark Tanti but the latter incredibly shot wide from inside the Marsa box. Substitute Manwel Scicluna's shot forced Azzopardi into a fine save on the hour.

St Patrick, although preferring to control the match, could have added a fourth on 69 minutes when a Gordon Failla free-kick was saved by Jason Cordina with the ball also hitting the bar.

Marsa did score a consolation goal 16 minutes from time when a Scicluna cross was chested down by Martin who swivelled past his marker before beating Azzopardi.

Marsa doubled up their efforts now. In the 80th minute a Mifsud cross was fumbled by Lee Grima, who should have done better from a good position.

Caruana twice had the opportunity to score for St Patrick in the late minutes but Marsa goalkeeper Cordina was alert to save.

Anizoba wasted a good chance two minutes into injury time as substitute Roderick Agius also saved well when Martin was sent through with the St Patrick 'keeper diving at the feet of the Marsa forward to block.

Marsa: J. Cordina, N. Zarb Cousin, J. Buttigieg, D. Vella (T. Ibrahim), K. Farrugia, L. Grima, M. Corbolan (M. Scicluna), R. Bonnici (G. Martin), A. Mifsud, D. Gatt, S. Eboh.

St Patrick: F. Azzopardi (R. Agius), R. Cassar, A. Buttigieg, M. Zerafa (C. Failla), D. Gauci, A. Galea, M. Tanti, G. Failla, T. Caruana, P. Anizoba, S. Sciberras (M. Pullicino).

Referee: Joe Attard.

Shared spoils in drab match

San Gwann 1
Senglea Athletics 1

This was a boring encounter between mid-table sides Senglea and San Gwann, ending in an almost predictable draw. There was below-par performances from many players on both sides... surely this was not an auspicious start to the second round of the league competition.

The only really good period of the game came right after Senglea went one goal down. The game was more concentrated in midfield with another bad point from such an encounter being the rough play from both sides.

The hard tackles were there as it was clearly evident that the two teams were more interested in marking out their opponents rather than trying to be constructive in their play.

If there was a team who could have snatched the lead in the first half it was surely San Gwann.

After 21 minutes they missed a glorious chance when Achokwu dribbled his way past Elvin Attard in the Senglea goal but shot wide with an open goal at his mercy.

On the stroke of half time a Karl Sciberras grounder, from just outside the area, brought the best out of Attard.

The deadlock was broken on 51 minutes. Sciberras's delicate pass found Igor Stefanovic unmarked and the San Gwann striker rounded the Senglea goalkeeper before rolling the ball home.

San Gwann's joy was short-lived however as Senglea equalised just two minutes later. A Darren Grech free-kick caught the San Gwann rearguard unprepared and Clint Caruana found space and time to slot the ball home - 1-1.

On the hour Trevor Thomas was unlucky when his first-timed effort from an acute angle hit the Saints' woodwork.

At the other end, San Gwann missed an ideal scoring chance when after a fine Stefanovic solo move, Andrew Decesare concluded wide from just inside the box.

San Gwann: C. Cini, A. Gatt, A. Gambin, G. Magri, C. Agius, C. Cuschieri, C. Gatt, J. Achokwu, K. Sciberras (R. Caruana), I. Stefanovic, A. Decesare (J. Farrugia).

Senglea: E. Attard, D. Aquilina, S. Aquilina, E. Bobolayefa, A. Spiteri, D. Grech, A. Imbroll, T. Thomas (J. Fsadni), C. Caruana, T. Ghirxi, L. Attard.

Referee: Marco Borg.