Senglea through after penalties

Naxxar Lions 0
Senglea Athletics 0
(Senglea Win 3-1 On Penalties)

Senglea Athletics emerged victors from a drab match which only came to the life late on in the second half and in extra time.

On this showing Senglea do not stand any chance of progressing further. Although, at times, football was played at an acceptable level, there were instances when most of the players looked only interested in kicking the ball away.

Both teams play in the First Division and have different perspectives. Senglea want to win promotion to the Premier League on their 100th year since the club's foundation while Naxxar want to finish as high as possible in the league.

Senglea were the better side in the first half but Naxxar improved after the restart and showed their best during extra time but to no avail. So boring was this match that some of the few spectators present were heard praying for someone to open the score and avoid staying on for 'overtime'.

On a sadder note, there were no stretchers available at the Centenary Stadium yesterday and when a player got injured he had to be lifted outside the pitch by his team-mates. This problem is a common occurrence in almost every Division One game. Some also noted that no fourth official is on the touchline when a FA Trophy match involves Division One sides only.

Back to the game, after only five minutes a long throw-in from Clint Caruana found Darren Grech who was quick to find space in the Naxxar box but then saw Reuben Cini saving well his shot. Naxxar responded three minutes later when Victor Bellia was released by Justin Zammit but the former Hibernians player hit wide.

Senglea upped their game and on 20 minutes Grech saw his long-range effort missing the target by a whisker. Ten minutes before the break Grech tried his luck from a free-kick but Cini saved.

In the second half Naxxar started to play better with Trevor Fenech hitting a scorcher just wide in the 55th minute. At the other end, Jason Borg ran at the Naxxar rearguard and fired a powerful shot that flashed past the post. Cini made a superb save in the 70th minute to stop a Caruana shot.

Bellia showed some class when he cleverly beat three defenders with his final shot just missing the target. Senglea could have clinched it on 90 minutes when Erin Azzopardi brought the best out of Cini following a shot that had the speed of a missile.

Naxxar pushed more men forward in extra-time. However, in the 102nd minute a skirmish erupted after Anthony Gera shot at goal when a Naxxar player was down injured.

Naxxar protested against Gera's action and contested his 'unsporting behaviour'.

Following some heated arguments Gera and Fenech were red-carded by the referee.

Meanwhile, the only chance to break the deadlock and avoid the penalties fell Simon Muscat's way. He was put through by Chima Dozie but the Naxxar substitute was found wanting in front of goal.

Senglea were the most prolific scorers from the spot.

They scored through Grech, Caruana and Bonello but Borg missed his shot. Naxxar's only penalty-goal came from Bellia. Camilleri, Mifsud and Naudi were unsuccessful in their tries.

Naxxar: R. Cini, G. Naudi, J. Borg ('46 K. Fenech), R. Schembri, J. Mifsud, G. Magri ('104 M. Gauci), T. Fenech, V. Bellia, J. Zammit ('68 S. Muscat), G. Camilleri, C. Dozie.

Senglea: G. Attard, D. Gauci, L. Attard, D. Grech, A. Gera, L. Mackay, C. Caruana, K. Abela ('46 G. Bonello), D. Cosaitis, E. Azzopardi, J. Borg.

Referee: Ian Miller.

Yellow Cards: Borg, Camilleri, Schembri, Mackay, Attard, Dozie, Gauci.

Red Cards: Fenech 102; Gera 102.