Senglea on the brink

Vittoriosa Stars 3
Senglea Athletic 2

Senglea Athletic are on the verge of being relegated to Division Two after losing 3-2 to Cottonera rivals Vittoriosa Stars yesterday. A draw between San Ġwann and Rabat Ajax this afternoon would seal Senglea's fate.

For their part, Vittoriosa are still in with a chance of winning promotion as they have reduced the gap on leaders Dingli, who have a game in hand, and Pietà to two points.

Senglea might have taken the lead after 11 minutes but Ibrahim Tarek headed just wide from an Osbert Ellul corner. Four minutes later, Anthony Eviparker sprinted past Stefano Zampa but David Aquilina cleared the danger.

Eviparker then missed a sitter when sending his shot over the crossbar with only the goalkeeper to beat but he soon made amends. The Nigerian ran through the Senglea defence and beat George Attard with a powerful shot. On 23 minutes, Eviparker doubled Vittoriosa's lead after receiving from Kenneth Abela.

On 26 minutes, Essien Mbong fluffed an excellent chance but a minute later, Senglea pulled one back, Justin Felice lobbing the ball over Vittoriosa goalkeeper Alex Camilleri.

Senglea equalised on 33 minutes, Tarek rifling the ball home from just inside the area.

Lifted by their two-goal comeback, Senglea might have gone in front but Mbong and Felice failed to connect with Brady Zerafa's cross.

Five minutes into the second half, Senglea's David Aquilina almost committed an own goal as he tried to head Darren Grech's cross away from the danger zone.

On 57 minutes, Camilleri thwarted Tarek with a fine save from a free-kick and soon after, the same player skied his shot high from an acute angle. A minute later, Vittoriosa's Abela headed wide from close range.

Senglea goalkeeper Attard produced a magnificent save to block Keith Darmanin's drive.

Both teams continued to push forward. With 12 minutes left, Senglea's Tarek shot weakly into the hands of Camilleri from close range after meeting Ellul's cross.

On the stroke of time, Senglea suffered the killer blow when Stephen Calleja snatched a late winner for Vittoriosa with a well-hit grounder from a Larry Lagana corner.

Vittoriosa Stars
A. Camilleri, A. Eviparker, J. Camilleri, S. Calleja, D. Grech, D. Gauci (R. Adami), K. Darmanin, P. Aquilina, K. Abela, S. Privitelli (C. Cachia), L. Scerri (L. Lagana).

Senglea Athletic
G. Attard, D. Aquilina (C. Borg), D. Zahra, I. Tarek, J. Felice, S. Zampa, A. Sciortino, B. Zerafa (D. Cosaitis), O. Ellul, E. Mbong, S. Aquilina.

Referee: Saviour Tanti.

Man of the match: Darren Grech (Vittoriosa).