Saints of Division One eye more top-flight scalps

Premier League teams involved in the second round of the U*Bet FA Trophy have lofty aspirations of joining the big guns in the quarter-finals.

The second round draw looks to have increased the likelihood of an all-Premier League contest in the next three rounds of the FA Trophy after the four teams from the top rung of Maltese football were handed ties against Division One opponents.

Although the four Premier League teams, namely Hamrun Spartans, Marsaxlokk, Msida St Joseph and Floriana, have to be regarded as favourites, their adversaries will surely be relishing the prospect of springing an upset.

San Gwann and St Patrick would not be in the second stage of the KO competition if they did not believe in their ability to hurt bigger opponents. Two Premier League teams were muscled out of the competition in the first round as San Gwann upset Pietà Hotspurs 2-0 and St Patrick outsmarted Mosta 3-1.

St Patrick will launch the Division One clubs' bid against Premier League supremacy when they meet Hamrun this afternoon at the National Stadium (2 p.m.).

Relegated from the Premier League at the end of last season, St Patrick found it hard to leave their mark in Division One but their struggle for survival received a boost last week when they beat Lija Athletic 2-1.

Bobby Giorev, the St Patrick coach, will be hoping that his side's improvement of late will spur his players to another defiant display against the Spartans.

For their part, Hamrun's hard-earned passage to the second round and their descent into the Relegation Pool of the Premier League seem good-enough reasons to remove any dangers of a complacent approach.

The Spartans came from behind to beat Division One leaders St George's 2-1 in the first round. Last Sunday, Hamrun missed out on a place in the Championship Pool after crashing to a 2-0 defeat to Msida and Michael Degiorgio, the Spartans coach, is now expected to make a spate of changes in response to that upset.

Veteran defender Ivan Zammit is expected to miss this clash but otherwise, the Spartans will be at full strength.

"Every game merits a fully committed approach," Degiorgio said. "Teams from the lower divisions go into matches like these with a nothing-to-lose mentality. We know how dangerous they can be because St George's made life very difficult for us in the first round.

"This match is important for us not only because we want to go as far as we can in the Trophy but also to lift our morale in preparation for the delicate league assignment against Floriana in the league."

As one of the most in-form and consistent teams in the second round of the Premier League, Floriana are strongly fancied to dismiss the challenge of Senglea Athletic.

Floriana's pairing with Senglea has evoked memories of their FA Trophy final in 1980-81 which the Greens won 2-1.

Conflicting reports about coach Jan Artz's future with Floriana threatened to overshadow their build-up for this match but the Dutchman yesterday told The Times that he never suggested he wanted to quit.

"I am fully committed to Floriana," Artz said. "The club have now appointed Charles Borg as assistant coach to help with the training especially when I cannot attend due to work commitments.

"My objective is to transform Floriana into one of the top three teams in Malta in the next two years. I have already submitted a two-year programme to the club, one that lays emphasis on a professional approach from the first team to the nursery.

"Our main goal this season is to keep our place in the Premier League and a good run in the FA Trophy. It's important that everyone at the club remains focused and determined because the Relegation Pool matches will be very tough."

For tomorrow's match against Senglea (Hibs Ground, 11 a.m.), Artz will be without striker Adrian Mifsud. The former Malta forward has been advised to rest for four weeks after picking up an injury in his side's 1-1 draw against Birkirkara in the Premier League.

Senglea earned a showdown against one of the traditional teams in local football after beating Naxxar 3-1 on penalties in the first round.

Now under the stewardship of Iro Curmi, Senglea have revived their hopes of clawing their way back into contention for promotion thanks to a string of positive results.

Curmi, who worked as assistant coach of Premier League side Mosta before taking over at Senglea, will surely look at his more experienced players, the likes of goalkeeper George Attard and his brother Lawrence, for many years on the books of Hibs, Kenneth Abela, Mark Marlow and Nigerian Edon Bobolayefa to supply the inspiration needed for a positive showing.

Farrugia takes on former assistant

Today's second match pits Ray 'Zazu' Farrugia against Michael Molzahn, his assistant coach during the former's reign as Malta U-21 mentor.

Farrugia is the man in charge at Marsaxlokk while Molzahn is in his second season as coach of Division One side Marsa.

On paper, Marsaxlokk, now billed among the leading contenders for the Premier League title, should brush aside Marsa but the latter will be heartened by news that their opponents are ravaged by injuries.

No fewer than six first-squad players will skip Marsaxlokk's FA Trophy match, namely Cleaven Frendo, Portuguese defender Nuno Gomez, Cesar Paiber, Gareth Sciberras, Kevin Sammut and Shaun Bajada.

Marsaxlokk, FA Trophy finalists in season 2003-2004, had a straightforward 3-0 win over Lija Athletic in the first round.

A solitary goal from Joseph Casha awarded Marsa a place in the second round at the expense of St Andrew's.

Marsa were tipped as favourites to gain promotion after a flying start to the Division One League but their form suffered a nosedive since the start of 2006.

Although Marsa have a difficult task to topple Marsaxlokk, Molzahn will urge his players to give a good account of themselves and make up for their dismal showing in the 4-0 defeat to Mqabba in their last league outing.

Mqabba, back in the promotion race, stumbled at the first stage of the FA Trophy after a 3-0 upset to Msida. The latter must contend with another Division One side tomorrow after being drawn against San Gwann.

Euphoria swept through Msida on Sunday after they became the sixth and last team to take a place in the Championship Pool.

Todor Raykov, the Msida coach, has centred his attention on getting his entire squad to concentrate on their quest to emulate their startling run to the FA Trophy final last season where they went down 2-1 to Birkirkara.

Daniel Theuma is out of the picture due to a slight injury while Charles Sciberras and Ibrahim Babatunde are doubtful.

San Gwann will take heart from their first round upset of Pietà as they look to add the scalp of Msida. However, their main concern is to move off the bottom places of the Division One table after a run of bad results tossed them into the relegation mire. Last week, San Gwann lost 1-0 to St George's.

The winners of the four second round ties will join Sliema Wanderers, Birkirkara, Hibs and Valletta in the last eight of the competition.

Football milestones...

¤ Rupert Mangion, of Hamrun Spartans, is poised to play his 300th official match in Maltese football.

He made his debut on April 19, 1992 in the Premier League for his club Hamrun in a match against St Andrew's.

Mangion played 93 matches for Sliema Wanderers and the rest (206) were in the colours of Hamrun.

¤ Another player of Hamrun Spartans, STEFAN SULTANA, is set to play his 50th FA Trophy match this weekend.

His first FA Trophy appearance came almost 20 years ago - April 16, 1986. On that occasion, Hamrun played against Gudja (1-0) and Sultana came on as a substitute for Leo Refalo.

During the last 25 years, only Michael Degiorgio, currently coaching the Spartans, played more FA Trophy matches than Sultana - 59 in total.

Data compiled by Rinus Dahles - dahles@global.net.mt