Senglea rescue point at the death

Senglea Athletic 1
San Gwann 1

Senglea Athletic looked to be heading for their first league defeat of the season whereas San Gwann were on course to claim their first win. It was not to be as a goal two minutes into injury time saved the day for Senglea who had dominated for long stretches but lacked punch up front.

Dennis Fenech's team attacked relentlessly only to be pushed back by the San Gwann rearguard in which Antonio Saliba and Malcolm Buttigieg excelled.

Unable to take to the field due to a groin problem, San Gwann player-coach Danilo Doncic packed his midfield to make up for his team's shortcomings in attack.

San Gwann made the early running but were never dangerous. Veteran Sandro Zammit Fava tried to unbalance the Senglea defence with long balls but with no success.

The first real threat on either goal came in the 19th minute. Senglea's Darren Grech delivered a teasing cross from a free-kick but the lanky Matthew Borg could only head the ball on to a post.

It was Senglea again who created the next scoring attempt on 27 minutes. Chima Dozie and Timothy Thomas exchanged passes before the latter concluded towards goal only for Saints' goalkeeper Justin Spiteri to block his effort.

Ten minutes from the end of the first half, San Gwann converted their first real scoring chance into a goal. Defender Buttigieg gave the Saints the lead when heading home from Roberto Brincat's corner .

Senglea missed a glorious chance to level matters on the stroke of half-time. A corner by Jeremy Gatt fell to Dozie just inside the area but the Nigerian's shot sailed over the crossbar.

After the interval, Senglea stormed into attack. Dozie, anticipating a poor clearance from the San Gwann defence, should have put Senglea back on level terms in the first minute but he missed the target from close range.

Fenech's men continued to push forward in search of an equaliser but they had to wait until the 70th minute to carve out another opening. Grech got on the end of a good passing move but his central effort was blocked by Spiteri.

The only time San Gwann ventured forward in the second half, after 78 minutes, Saliba rose to head the ball from a corner but his attempt flew over.

Senglea managed to salvage a point two minutes into stoppage time when Grech's corner was met by substitute John Fsadni whose strong effort was deflected by Dozie as it soared into the net.

Senglea: G. Attard, D. Gauci, D. Cosaitis, S. Aquilina, D. Grech, T. Thomas, C. Caruana, C. Dozie, M. Borg (L. Attard), J. Gatt (E. Azzopardi), G. Bonello (J. Fsadni).

San Gwann: J. Spiteri, L. Vella Critien, S. Zammit Fava, A. Gatt, L. Sciberras, A. Borg, R. Brincat (M. Zammit), A. Spiteri (C. Giordemaina), M. Buttigieg, A. Saliba, M. Psaila (C. Cuschieri).

Referee: Edward Spiteri.

Man of the match: Justin Spiteri (San Gwann).