Msida win leaves Pietà on the brink

Msida St Joseph 3
Pietà Hotspurs 1

Msida St Joseph all but secured their Premier League status yesterday after coming from behind to beat Pietà Hotspurs 3-1 in a crunch relegation tie.

Defeat has all but condemned Carmel Busuttil's side to first division football next season. Having been in the top flight for the past 12 seasons, Pietà have flirted with relegation on many an occasion in the last few years but they have always managed to avoid the drop at the death.

Another Pietà 'houdini act' looks almost impossible this season though as Busuttil's youngsters have now fallen nine points adrift of the safety zone with only three matches left.

Only an extraordinary collapse by Msida would bring Pietà back into the race as the best the latter can hope for is to force a relegation decider, provided that they win their remaining three matches and Msida fail to pick a single point from their last three outings. Msida's win yesterday also confirmed bottom team Mqabba's relegation to Division One.

Psychologically, Pietà were facing a daunting task before the first kick of the ball as some of their key players, including Bernard Sciberras, Silvan Ciscaldi and Pierre Aquilina, were ruled out by injuries.

However, the Hotspurs did most of the running in the opening stages with striker Martin Deanov constantly harassing Msida's rearguard in search of openings.

On their part, Msida, who were without defender Pio Sciriha, could afford to opt for a more cautious approach as coach Patrick Curmi's main objective yesterday was to avoid defeat and maintain their sizeable gap on Pietà.

Shy of the first quarter, a rising shot from Svetlan Kondev, gaining extra power from the strong wind sweeping across the field, went over the woodwork.

The Saints' rearguard conceded on 16 minutes as Pietà skipper Deanov, arguably the most active player on the pitch, produced a curling shot from the edge of the penalty area which sailed into the top corner of the net. Msida custodian Manuel Bartolo had no realistic chance of saving Deanov's attempt.

Pieta's joy was shortlived, however, as they conceded the equaliser five minutes later. A slick move involving Msida's two Brazilian forwards saw Pedro Dos Santos chip a through-ball towards compatriot Gilberto who beat the offside trap and rifled a powerful shot past Miguel Montfort from close range.

Scoring opportunities were rare for the remainder of the first half but four minutes into the restart, Msida were awarded a penalty for a reckless challenge by Montfort on Gilberto Dos Santos.

Cameroon striker Priso Doding calmly struck the ball past Montfort from the penalty spot to heap more pressure on the struggling Hotspurs.

A minute later, Pieta's Cassar cleared a menacing cross from Gilberto as Msida went for the killer blow.

On 57 minutes, Deanov hit a measured free-kick from the edge of the penalty area but the Msida goalkeeper blocked his attempt.

The Hotspurs maintained their momentum and minutes later, Deanov slipped a delightful pass towards Edward Herrera who quickly served the unmarked Kondev only for the Bulgarian to hesitate a second too long in aiming a shot at goal.

Pietà survived a scare midway through the second half when Pedro Dos Santos met a throughball and had the better of Montfort before flicking a shot towards goal. Pietà's Dean Gera ran backward to clear the danger.

Msida brought on Roderick Baldacchino 18 minutes from time and the former Hibs winger almost made an immediate impact. Baldacchino sped down the left flank and served Doding who intelligently passed the ball to Pedro Dos Santos. The Brazilian lined up a rather central shot from six metres out and Montfort pulled off a good save to prevent the Saints establishing a two-goal lead.

Eight minutes from time, Montfort made another good save, diving to his right to push Gilberto's header away for a corner following a dipping free-kick by Adrian Farrugia.

At the other end, Pietà were rather unlucky not to draw level as Deanov squared the ball towards Kondev whose volley from the edge of the box was stopped by Bartolo.

Deep into stoppage time, Msida dashed Pietà's hopes with a third goal, courtesy of Pedro Dos Santos who beat Montfort from close distance.

Msida: M. Bartolo-6.5, K. Spiteri-6.5, C. Brincat-6.5, T. Farrugia-7, S. Grima-6.5, D. Cachia-6, A. Spiteri-6.5 ('72 R. Baldacchino), A. Farrugia-7 ('90 K. Ebejer), P. Dos Santos-6.5, G. Dos Santos-7.5 ('85 P. Borg), N. P. Doding-6.5.

Pietà: M. Montfort-6.5, C. Cassar-6, S. Grech-5.5, M. Deanov-6.5, D. Gatt-5.5 ('78 D. Mifsud), C. Sammut-6, D. Gera-5.5, S. Kondev-6.5, G. Goodlip-5.5 ('70 F. Sulas-5), E. Herrera-5.5, R. Galabov-6.5.

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Scorers: Deanov 16; G. Dos Santos 21; Doding 49 pen.; P. Dos Santos 90.

Yellow cards: Montfort; Galabov; A. Farrugia.

BoV Player of the match: Gilberto Dos Santos (Msida St Joseph).