Wanderers labour for points against spirited Saints

Sliema Wanderers 2
St Patrick 1

Sliema Wanderers had to dig deep into their reserves yesterday before overcoming the unexpected stiff challenge of lowly St Patrick to maintain their 100 per cent record in the Premier League.

The Wanderers looked cruising to a comfortable win despite only enjoying a slim 1-0 lead at half-time. However, on the restart, St Patrick looked a revitalised side.

Inspired by the tough tackling of Brazilian Sandro Costa Brasilino, who had come on just before half-time, and the powerful running of Peter Anizoba, St Patrick started to unnerve the champions.

Their efforts looked to have been rewarded when Mark Tanti put them level early in the second half. But the Wanderers held composure and soon regained hold of the match, finally putting the winning goal inside the St Patrick net through defender Darren Debono.

Sliema, thus, retained the sole leadership in the standings with maximum points from four matches.

St Patrick may feel unlucky to have finished empty-handed yet again. However, coach Borislav Giorev must have been delighted with the performance of his players, who, despite facing more quoted opponents, showed some great fighting qualities. Certainly, if they can maintain this kind of form it will not be long before they will open their Premier League account.

Sliema sorely felt the absence of midfielder Joe Brincat. They could have taken the lead as early the sixth minute when Stefan Giglio was surprisingly left unmarked from an Alex Muscat free-kick, but he miscued his header.

In the 14th minute, Muscat was again the provider when his cross found Orosco Anonam, whose shot on the turn was tipped to a corner by Maurizio Valastro, in the St Patrick goal.

That was the prelude to Sliema's opener two minutes later. Kris Laferla sent a cross inside Valastro's box and Giglio this time calibrated his header perfectly to score.

Anonam looked certain to have doubled Sliema's lead in the 32nd minute. However, his low shot, from a Noel Turner pass, was cleared off the line by Clayton Failla. A minute later Valastro had to be alert to tip over a Doncic shot.

It was all Sliema up to this juncture with Anizoba doing little without his usual strike partner Chima Dozie. Just before the break, Giorev roped in midfielder Costa Brasilino as he looked to add more steel to his back line.

Anonam again missed a good chance to put Sliema 2-0 up a minute into the second half when unmarked from a Turner cross he headed wide.

St Patrick's first attempt on Murphy Akanji's goal arrived on 49 minutes. Clayton Failla's effort hit the side netting.

At the other end, Valastro was alert to turn over the bar a Doncic effort. From the flag-kick, the unexpected happened. The Saints cleared Turner's cross and the ball fell to Anizoba. He dashed into the Sliema half and sneaked the ball towards Mark Tanti who had the simplest of tasks to hit past the onrushing Akanji and even the scores - 1-1.

It was St Patrick's first goal of the season, emulating Lija's feat the day before. Tanti's strike stunned Sliema and coach Edward Aquilina immediately added more men up front by introducing Adrian Mifsud.

Debono almost regained Sliema's lead on 63 minutes but his close-range header skimmed the bar.

Sliema increased their urgency but were finding it difficult to break the St Patrick defence. On 74 minutes Giglio tried from the distance but with little luck.

On 77 minutes, Anonam was denied the joy of the goal when the Saints defence deflected his headed attempt to a corner.

Sliema were not to be denied though. From Turner's flag-kick, the ball fell into Debono's path and the former Malta international flicked into the top corner of the net to the great relief of the Sliema clan.

Sliema: M. Akanji-6, A. Muscat-6 ('56 A. Mifsud), B. Said-6, D. Debono-7, N. Turner-8, D. Doncic-6, C. Mattocks-6, J. Chetcuti-6, O. Anonam-6, S. Giglio-6, K. Laferla-6 ('45 J. Farrugia-6).

St Patrick: M. Valastro-7, A. Buttigieg-6, D. Gauci-6, B. Fenech-6, C. Failla-6, G. Failla-6 ('82 M. Pullicino), K. Bonnici-6 ('45 T. Caruana-6), M. Tanti-7, P. Anizoba-7, S. Zerafa-6, A. Buhagiar-5 ('37 S. Costa Brasilino-8).

Referee: Chris Lautier.

Scorers: Giglio 16; Tanti 53; Debono 78.

Yellow Cards: C. Failla, Laferla, Gauci, Caruana.

Player of the match: Noel Turner (Sliema Wanderers).