Effiong wipes out Calcado's scorcher

Msida St Joseph 1
Calcado 31
Qormi 1
Effiong 45

Msida St Joseph and Qormi, two teams with high hopes of preserving their Premier League status, went head-to-head yesterday.

Their first meeting also had a South American touch to it as Msida took to the pitch with three Brazilians and Qormi had two in their ranks.

Confidence high after hitting a hat-trick in Msida's 4-1 win over Floriana, Pedro Calcado again stole the show with a superb goal but his effort was not enough to win the game for his team as Qormi, inspired by Massimo Grima, fought back to gain a deserved point.

Chucks Nwoko was assigned a starting role in Qormi's attack where he was flanked by Alfred Effiong. Patrick Curmi, the Msida coach, kept faith with the team that thumped Floriana in their last outing.

The early exchanges were devoid of creative football. On 17 minutes, Grima guided his shot past the Msida wall from a free-kick but the shot was too central to trouble goalkeeper Matthew Camilleri.

Msida had to wait until midway through the first half to create their first chance. Rising at the far post to meet a cross by Stefano Grima, Chris Camilleri headed over the bar.

Goalmouth action was proving hard to come by as Qormi's forward endeavours were being repeatedly thwarted by Msida's offside ploy and the Saints' strikers were finding it hard to unlock the opposing reaguard.

That was until the half hour mark when Calcado deftly weaved his way through the Qormi midfield before despatching a looping shot which left Reuben Gauci motionless. One-nil to Msida.

Two minutes before the break, Qormi should have restored parity as Grima's pass unnerved Msida's Stefano Grima who took a heavy first touch, paving the way for Effiong to run through but the Nigerian fired wide of the near post.

The Qormi fans sighed but in next to no time, Effiong atoned for his miss by powering his way into the box to collect another pass from Grima and sent his shot through Camilleri's legs and into the net.

Then, Qormi might have forged ahead when Da Silva's corner was headed goalwards by Grima but Adrian Farrugia cleared the ball off the line.

Reprieved by their captain's rescue act, Msida thought they had regained their lead when Camilleri poked Marco Aurellio's cross-shot into the net but Edward Spiteri's raised flag signalled that the Msida player was offside.

Gauci then denied Calcado a second goal by pawing away his free-kick from outside the box.

At the other end, Camilleri emulated his Qormi counterpart with a tipping save to push away a sweetly-struck free-kick by Joseph Farrugia.

Proceedings livened up as the second half progressed. Adrian Farrugia, a tireless performer for Msida, saw his low shot deflected away for a corner by Gauci.

Msida felt that they should have been awarded a penalty when Aurellio's cross appeared to strike Sammut's arm as the latter blocked the ball but the referee was unmoved.

Moments later, the sight of a grounded Adrian Farrugia twisting and turning on the turf caused widespread concern as players and officials rushed to his side.

Fortunately, the Msida captain was soon back on his feet.

In the final stages, Tyrone Farrugia rescued Msida when he slid in to dispossess the advancing Carmel Formosa. Qormi also had penalty claims turned down by the referee after Effiong appeared to have been slightly pushed by Msida defender Farrugia.

Msida
M. Camilleri-6, S. Grima-5, A. Spiteri-6.5, T. Farrugia-7, S. Vella-4 ('62 K. Spiteri-5), A. Farrugia-7 ('90 E. Navarro), A. Rocha Da Silva-6.5, P. Calcado-7.5, K. Magro-6 ('80 D. Cachia), C. Camilleri-5.5, M. Aurellio-7.

Qormi
R. Gauci-6, R. Forace-5, R. Dos Santos-6.5, M. Grima-7.5, A. Effiong-6.5, J. Farrugia-5.5 ('78 A. Debono), S. Tellus-5, R. Sammut-6, K. Fenech-5.5 ('84 J. Chetcuti), J. Da Silva-6.5, C. Nwoko-4 ('58 C. Formosa-4).

Referee: Paul Caruana.

Yellow cards: A. Farrugia; J. Farrugia; Sammut; Da Silva; Vella; Forace.

BoV Player of the match: Pedro Calcado (Msida).