Unbeaten St Patrick march on

St Patrick 2
San Ġwann 0

Promotion seekers St Patrick maintained their march at the top of the standings with another victory despite playing without some regulars yesterday.

Peter Anizoba was suspended and Gary Inguanez and Chris Grech missed out due to injuries. St Patrick also had to do without coach Winston Muscat. He was suspended for this match and had to follow proceedings from the stands.

St Patrick had ex-Hibernians midfielder Kurt Formosa making his debut and Thomas Caruana was back from suspension. However, with half an hour to go, the Saints lost captain Simon Zerafa through injury.

San Ġwann had shown signs of improvement lately but although they shared the exchanges with their opponents for most of the match, they found life difficult in attack. Antoine Zahra was the shining light for San Ġwann. He was the only player who tried to trouble the St Patrick defence with his darting runs.

The first half was relatively uneventful. San Ġwann recorded the first shot at goal when on 13 minutes, a Lee Cumbo drive was saved by David Cassar.

On 29 minutes, Beppe Muscat, despite being tightly marked, delivered a rasping grounder but his shot fell inches wide of the desired target.

Six minutes from half-time, St Patrick took the lead thanks to a Muscat headed goal from a Caruana cross.

The second half was a drab affair as the game resembled more a chess game than a football contest. On 67 minutes, Zahra found space on the right, following a Firaz Aboulez measured pass, but his inviting cross was intercepted by Cassar.

A Caruana shot from outside the San Ġwann box was saved by Justin Spiteri and, at the other end, Zahra was a second too late to head home a Chris Cuschieri centre.

San Ġwann dictated matters in the late stages but the mean St Patrick defence was not conceding any extra space.

St Patrick went on to seal the issue two minutes from time when from a swift counter-break, Roderick Briffa rifled the ball home from close range.

Deep into stoppage time, St Patrick could have added another goal to their tally but Daniel Gatt was unlucky when he rattled the crossbar from just outside the area.

St Patrick
D. Cassar, M. Pullicino, M. Fleri Soler, S. Zerafa (I. Zerafa), D. Gatt, T. Caruana (R. Briffa), K. Formosa, J. Farrugia, B. Bonnici, B. Muscat (T. Farrugia), C. Micallef.

San Ġwann
J. Spiteri, M. Caruana, C. Giordmaina, M. Francica, J. Buttigieg (D. Farrugia), A. Borg, C. Cuschieri (R. Zammit), F. Aboulez, L. Cumbo, A. Zahra, S. Hili.

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Man of the match: Beppe Muscat (St Patrick).

Senglea in deep trouble

Dingli Swallows 3
Senglea Athletics 1

Dingli Swallows turned defeat into victory after beating troubled Senglea in a game that turned upside down in the second half. Senglea, without a coach following the sacking of Jimmy Briffa, played a decent first half but collapsed after the break.

In fact, it was a piece of good judgment by Dingli coach Jesmond Zammit who made two substitutions that wreaked havoc with Senglea's plans.

Senglea, under the charge of interim coach David Aquilina, could have closed the game in the first half. In fact, after only four minutes Justin Felice hesitated in front of goal and shot straight at the side-netting.

Although Dingli saw more of the ball, it was Senglea who went close once more when Brady Zerafa, with only the keeper to beat, saw his shot saved and missed again from the loose ball.

Senglea scored a superb goal on 25 minutes when after a move involving six players, Essien Mbong found Stefano Zampa who fired home from close distance.

Dingli tried to hit back and on 32 minutes Uchanna Anywanna's drive was kept out by George Attard. But Dingli only had this chance to show as two minutes later Senglea had an Andrew Sciortino drive from just inside the area which was saved in style by keeper Jeffrey Farrugia.

Zammit introduced Christopher Azzopardi after the break and the move paid instant dividends. On 47 minutes, Azzopardi found space before delivering a perfect ball for Anywanna who slotted home the equaliser.

Dingli continued to show better ideas and went 2-1 up when Anywanna drove the ball home from a Mark Galea centre.

Anywanna could have made it a hat-trick two minutes later but his effort was stopped by Attard with the aid of the woodwork.

However, on 86 minutes Dingli made the game safe when Clint Caruana overlapped on the left and hit home from an acute angle to surprise Attard.

With three minutes to go, Dingli midfielder Kurt Formosa was sent off for showing dissent. Senglea are still rock bottom with just one point from eight games but Dingli moved to a safer mid-table position.

Dingli
J. Farrugia, C. Caruana, R. Spiteri, M. Galea (E. Casha), K. Formosa, C. Muscat, J. Cachia, E. Farrugia (C. Azzopardi), G. Failla (V. Fiteni), R. Mintoff, U. Anywanna.

Senglea
G. Attard, D. Cosaitis, S. Aquilina, J. Felice, I. Tarek, S. Zampa, J. Abela (J. Farrugia), E. Mbong, A. Sciortino, B. Zerafa (L. Bonnett), E. Azzopardi.

Referee: Paul Caruana.

Man of the match: Uchanna Anywanna (Dingli Swallows).