Cottonera rivals share the spoils

Vittoriosa Stars 2
Senglea Athletic 2

A keenly-contested derby between Cottonera rivals Vittoriosa and Senglea finished in a 2-2 draw, a result that left both teams undefeated after three games.

In front of a sizeable crowd at the Victor Tedesco Stadium, the game swayed from one end to the other. Senglea were the better team early on but Vittoriosa hit back to enjoy the initiative for most of the second half. All in all, the 2-2 draw was a fair result.

After just a minute's play, a free-kick by Vittoriosa player-coach Ivan Zammit was saved by George Attard. On 10 minutes, Silvan Privitelli's free-kick sparked panic in Senglea's penalty area but Uchanna Anywanna drove wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.

After Attard, the Senglea goalkeeper, had blocked another Zammit free-kick on 24 minutes, Chima Dozie put the Yellow-Reds ahead with a gem of a goal. The Nigerian forward turned well inside the box and volleyed the ball past Ivan Cassar.

Within two minutes, Vittoriosa had levelled the scores. Anywanna played a good one-two with Trevor Thomas who in turn squared the ball to Privitelli and the latter's drive from inside the box beat Attard.

On the half hour, Senglea were dangerous when, after a coral move involving several players, Glenn Bonello's first-time effort was pushed away for a corner by Cassar.

A minute into first-half stoppage time it was Vittoriosa who stormed ahead. Clint Cope's cross in the direction of Trevor Thomas procured a melee in the Senglea box and as Attard was about to clear, Privitelli nipped in to shoot the ball home.

Senglea took to the second half in attacking mode in their bid to gain an early equaliser. Their pressure saw them winning two corners but Vittoriosa goalkeeper Cassar was alert and blocked the danger.

On the hour, Senglea's Simon Aquilina recovered a loose ball and attempted a shot but the ball was deflected for a corner by Zammit. From the resulting corner, Matthew Borg's header was stopped by Cassar.

Senglea drew level in the 66th minute. Borg supplied an inviting cross and Dozie rose well to head home.

With 15 minutes to go, Senglea missed a glorious opportunity when Bonello pushed the ball in the path of Borg but the latter hit wide in front of an open goal.

Three minutes later, Larry Lagana went close for Vittoriosa when his inswinging cross-shot from a corner deceived Attard but the ball dropped inches wide of the far post.

Five minutes from the end of time, Vittoriosa won a free-kick just outside the area. Zammit played a short pass to Martin Ciantar whose drive was superbly saved by Attard. The Senglea goalkeeper also got injured in the process after crashing into the right-hand post.

Vittoriosa: I. Cassar, J. Camilleri, I. Zammit, S. Privitelli, Trevor Thomas, S. Calleja (D. Burke), M. Ciantar, C. Cope (S. Calleja), L. Lagana, C. Sciberras, U. Anywanna.

Senglea: G. Attard, D. Gauci, D. Cosaitis, S. Aquilina, D. Grech, Timothy Thomas (J. Fsadni), C. Caruana, C. Dozie, M. Borg, G. Bonello, F. Dingli (J. Gatt).

Referee: Clayton Pisani.

Man of the match: Ivan Zammit (Vittoriosa S.).