Resilient Spartans bounce back

Msida St Joseph 0
Hamrun Spartans 1

Fears that Saturday's 3-2 upset to neighbouring foes Pietà Hotspurs might plunge Hamrun Spartans into crisis were allayed yesterday.

Pitched in another 'derby' against Msida St Joseph, the Spartans rediscovered the commendable traits of resilience, hard work and sound tactical organisation to attain a narrow but deserved 1-0 victory in a generally balanced match.

After a mediocre first half, in which Hamrun had been the better of two unimpressive teams, the game sprung to life after the restart, especially after Gaetan Spiteri, voted man of the match yesterday, put the Spartans in the driving seat.

Hamrun had further chances to put the result beyond their opponents but they were foiled by the solid goalkeeping of Manuel Bartolo, the Msida custodian.

Msida also had a handful of opportunities to cancel out Spiteri's opener but were held back by a resolute Spartans' defence, ably marshalled by the outstanding Roderick Fenech, and a strong goalkeeping display by Michael Falzon.

Hamrun coach Marco Gerada showed his dissatisfaction at his side's poor showing in the 3-2 defeat to Pietà by making no fewer than five changes to the starting line-up.

Suspended captain Ryan Fenech was replaced by Kevin Borg in midfield while Stefan Sultana, Mark Anthony Bonnici, Diego Cucciardi and Neville Galea were preferred to Steve Meilak, John Debattista, Evano Briffa and Nigerian Alfred Effiong.

The other Nigerian on Hamrun's books, Precious Monye, was deployed at the base of the Spartans' midfield quartet in a 4-4-2 formation.

Msida had secured a morale-booster before their derby with the Spartans by hitting a stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Valletta last Saturday.

Patrick Curmi, the Msida coach, did not stick with the same formation as Andrew Spiteri filled in for the unavailable Pio Sciriha and Roderick Baldacchino started ahead of Lawrence Mizzi on the left side of the Saints' midfield.

Scoring opportunities were scarce in the opening quarter but on 16 minutes, Baldacchino denied Hamrun what would have been an inviting goalscoring opportunity when heading the ball away from Cucciardi who was about to connect with a teasing cross from Rupert Mangion.

From the ensuing corner, the ball fell to Sultana whose first-time volley ricocheted off Spiteri. The Spartans fans shouted "penalty" but referee Alan Mario Sant ignored their appeals.

The game remained generally dull but Hamrun were the brighter side going forward, thanks mainly to Cucciardi's efforts and the covering work of Monye.

Sultana fired high and wide on 33 minutes but in their first significant inroad into the Spartans' half, Msida almost seized the lead.

Goalkeeper Falzon had to dive to his right to repel Tyrone Farrugia's well-struck grounder but the loose ball rolled into the path of Priso Doding. The Cameroonian striker moved to his right to create space for a shot but his effort was blocked by Roderick Fenech.

On the stroke of half-time, Falzon did well to fist away a menacing corner by Adrian Farrugia.

Msida could have stormed ahead less than a minute into the second half when Adrian Farrugia supplied Doding inside the box but the latter's attempt from point blank was kept out by Falzon.

At the other end, Bartolo was prominent when touching away for a corner Spiteri's rising strike after the Spartans striker, latching onto a long clearance, had run past the dithering Msida defence.

From the resultant corner, taken by Borg, Bartolo just pushed the ball away amid a goalmouth scramble but Sultana headed it back towards the far post where the unmarked Spiteri had an easy job to score.

Eleven minutes into the second half, the Spartans would have doubled their advantage but for an excellent double-save from Bartolo. The Msida goalkeeper kept his composure to paw away a strong drive from Spiteri who had carved the Msida defence open with an excellent piece of skill.

The danger was not over for Msida though as Sultana was first to the loose ball but his fierce volley was again blocked by Bartolo.

Reprieved by their goalkeeper's ability, Msida tried to cause some problems of their own. Their renewed attacking drive almost reaped instant dividends as Tyrone Farrugia's scorcher from a free-kick was met with a fine save from Falzon and Baldacchino drove wide from the rebound.

Farrugia then delivered a through-ball to Doding, as effervescent as he had been in the previous two matches for Msida, but the young striker's menacing incursion into the box was halted by Bratislav Timotic.

As the end of the match loomed larger, Msida committed more men to attack in search of an equaliser but the Spartans held firm for a deserved victory.

Msida: M. Bartolo-7.5, S. Grima-6, C. Brincat-6, G. Ogbonna-6, A. Spiteri-5 ('81 C. Spiteri), D. Cachia-6, T. Farrugia-6.5, R. Baldacchino-5.5 ('70 L. Mizzi-5), A. Farrugia-5.5 ('58 G. Camilleri-5), O. Yachine-4, P. Doding-7.

Hamrun: M. Falzon-7, M.A. Bonnici-6, D. Cucciardi-6.5 ('69 S. Meilak-6), P. Monye-7, K. Borg-6 ('81 E. Briffa), R. Fenech-7.5, S. Sultana-6, R. Mangion-6.5, N. Galea-6.5 ('82 J. Debattista), B. Timotic-6.5, G. Spiteri-7.5.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant.

Scorer: Spiteri 50.

Yellow Cards: Doding; Spiteri; Bonnici; Brincat; Spiteri; Meilak; Cachia.

BOV Player Of The Match: Gaetan Spiteri (Hamrun Spartans).

Today: 6 p.m. Pietà vs Birkirkara; 8 p.m. Marsaxlokk vs Floriana.