Kevin Azzopardi, National Stadium
Hibernians nullify City to seal title crown
Hibernians champions. Hibs captain Mario Muscat raises the cup. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi.
Hibernians 0
Valletta 0
Hibernians are on cloud nine... or rather ten.
Thrust in a last-day showdown with perennial title rivals Valletta, Hibs, the long-time Premier League leaders, captured their 10th title after grinding out the point they needed to be crowned champions.
A bumper crowd gathered at the National Stadium to witness the last and decisive act of a thrilling title race. The atmosphere was electric but cagey as Hibs and Valletta vied for the top prize in Maltese football. That honour went to Hibs after a nervy, but largely dull, match ended as it started.
Hibs boast the most prolific forward line in the league but they can defend too. Mark Miller is an advocate of attacking football but he's also a pragmatist.
Two points to the good at the top, Hibs went into this duel needing only a point to win the title and Miller duly concocted a cautious plan aimed at nullifying Valletta's attacking weaponry.
Making a mockery of suggestions that their young players might buckle under the pressure, Hibs showed excellent composure, tactical discipline and, above all, resolute defending to repel everything that the much-vaunted Citizens threw at them.
Valletta held the initiative for long stretches but their performance was devoid of flair and bite, two key attributes when facing spirited opponents who defended as if their lives depended on their not conceding a goal.
Their resilient display paid the desired dividends as the referee's final whistle confirmed Hibs as the top team, much to the delight of their jubilant fans.
The players soon embarked on a lap of honour before all eyes were drawn to the platform on the pitch and the glittering BOV trophy that was presented to Hibs captain Mario Muscat by Malta FA president Joe Mifsud.
Thousands of flag-waving fans headed to Ta' Qali hours before the match was due to start.
The enclosure filled up quickly, prompting the police to close the gates connecting the south and north sections to the west side.
More and more supporters streamed into the stadium as kick-off beckoned. The efforts of the hard-core fans to encourage more people from Paola to attend this match clearly paid off as Hibs not only thronged half the enclosure but also took up a sizeable portion of the north stand.
A glance at the other side of the stadium was one to behold as the Valletta faithful transformed half the venue into a sea of red and white. Not only did the City supporters fill their side of the enclosure but thousands crowded half the Millennium Stand as well as the south end.
The section of the Millennium Stand reserved for neutral fans was also packed.
A boisterous roar rose into the air as the two teams jogged on to the pitch for their warm-up routine but the decibel level reached a peak when the players ran onto the field for kick-off.
Miller made only one change from the team that thrashed Birkirkara 4-0. Elkien Cauchi made way for Zeferino Soares Borges, who missed Monday's clash due to suspension.
The team selection of Paul Zammit contained one surprise as the City coach left Roderick Briffa out of the first XI and awarded a recall to Ian Zammit. The latter was entrusted with the responsibility of leading Valletta's attacking charge with captain Gilbert Agius playing off his shoulder and Doding Priso and Dyson Falzon lending support from the wings.
Soares Borges was employed as a target man for Hibs with Andrew Cohen and Clayton Failla taking up wide positions.
In the early stages, Dyson Falzon's cross from a right-wing corner was easily fielded by Muscat, the Hibs goalkeeper.
A fluent move by Valletta ended with Gilbert Agius heading the ball to Priso, City's most enterprising player in this initial period. Priso sped into the box only to be dispossessed by the attentive Edward Herrera.
Needing a win to pip Hibs to the title, Valletta were the more assertive side early on but Miller's men had a solid look about them with Christian Callejas acting as an effective shield for his defensive allies.
Scoring chances proved elusive for much of the opening 25 minutes. Zammit tried his luck with a diagonal shot that flew high and wide.
In an isolated foray, Soares Borges made a good run into the box before floating a dangerous cross that flew tantalisingly across the face of goal but found no takers.
Minutes later, Soares Borges got on the end of a through-ball from midfield and held off Luke Dimech's overtures but his effort flew wide.
The significance of the occasion appeared to take its toll on the players as well as the fans as the tetchy nature of the opening exchanges was reflected in the erstwhile subdued mood on the stands.
Hibs were more intent on keeping Valletta at bay than to create some problems of their own up front, their prudent approach certainly conditioned by the fact that a point was all they required to secure the title.
The sight of Terrence Scerri stretching on the sidelines raised the spirits of the Hibs fans.
An ankle injury had kept the Malta striker out of the last game but Scerri was declared fit yesterday and eventually entered the fray 10 minutes into the second half when replacing Jonathan Pearson.
Scerri's introduction triggered a spate of positional switches as Soares Borges dropped to midfield and Galabov moved to the right.
Dimech broke down a menacing Hibs move when heading away a low cross by Failla.
On the hour mark, Steve Bezzina unleashed a sizzling shot but a deflection altered the trajectory of the ball which sailed just over the bar.
Moments earlier, Zammit had effected his first substitution, putting in Seba Monesterolo for Edmond Agius. Gilbert Agius was switched to central midfield as Monesterolo proceeded to partner Zammit up front.
Valletta appealed for a penalty when Zammit's flick-on from Justin Grioli's cross appeared to strike Aaron Xuereb's arm but the referee saw nothing untoward.
Midway into the second half, Scerri almost gave Hibs the lead.
Latching to a long pass from Callejas, Scerri drew two City defenders out of position while drifting towards the box before producing a chip that Andrew Hogg, the City goalkeeper, managed to divert onto the near post.
For all their endeavours to transfer the ball to their strikers as quickly as possible, Valletta just lacked the cutting edge to penetrate the crowded Hibs defence.
With eight minutes remaining, Zammit brought on Briffa for Falzon.
The Hibs fans became more vociferous as the game moved into the final five minutes with the score still 0-0.
Hibs might have scored in stoppage time when Scerri headed the ball on to substitute Ben Camilleri who sprinted into the box, evaded Hogg but fired wide from an acute angle.
At the death, Valletta also came close to scoring when Priso crossed for Jamie Pace whose close-range flick ended over the bar.
Hibernians
M. Muscat-6, J. Caruana-7.5, E. Herrera-7.5, A. Xuereb-7, J. Pearson-6 ('55 T. Scerri-6.5), A. Pulis-6.5, C. Callejas-7, A. Cohen-7, R. Galabov-6, Z. Soares Borges-5.5 ('80 B. Camilleri), C. Failla-6.5.
Valletta
A. Hogg-6, J. Grioli-6.5, K. Scicluna-7, L. Dimech-6, S. Bezzina-5, E. Agius-5.5 ('60 S. Monesterolo-5), J. Pace-6, G. Agius-5.5, D. Falzon-5 ('83 R. Briffa), D. Priso-6.5, I. Zammit-5.
Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.
Yellow cards: Soares Borges; Muscat; Monesterolo.
BoV player of the match: Clayton Failla (Hibs).
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Johann GATT
May 26th 2009, 06:32
@ A FABRI ....Yes I agree that Floriana had a quiet night. Of course they can only celebrate if they drew with us or someone else beat us..... Xi pjacir tafu tihdu . Wait for Friday .City Fan 4 ever. Come on whites ...
Martin Nielsen
May 25th 2009, 16:03
Please don't generalize. There are a great many wonderful Valletta fans, but sadly not as many as there are Valletta fans...
I really feel Hibernians are the only worthy winners this year. My team might have had the better players, but the good old Valletta spirit is nowhere to be found. We should actually consider ourselves lucky to have come so close, considering the many half-hearted performances throughout the season. Team spirit and hard work was demonstrated almost exclusively by Hibernians and the two newly promoted teams.
Judging by the match reports throughout the season, I think Failla should be the obvious choice as Footballer of the Year.
And judging by the comments posted here, the MFA shouldn't be getting any awards. Shameful lack of control over such a crucial game.
Congratulations Hibernians! You deserve it and I hope the other teams will learn from your example.
B Sant
May 25th 2009, 15:08
Well done hibs -- and winning it at the expense of Valletta always makes it worth more
Some points to MFA and police
1) we couldnt have one single beer from the bar- as a direct police order- most of the people know how to control their drinking and their attitude, but it seems that the police are unable to control the few hot headed people
2) knowing that alcohol is out of the question why did the bar people stock well other items or was it a last minute decision?
3) why so many changes to entrance points when a large crowd is expected. I thought that the staudium was designed to accomodate thousands of people and not a few hundreds that visit it everyweek.
4) even worse why do we need to reduce the manning of ticket points when large crowds are expected
5) during normal league matches the enclosures are jam packed and people sometimes have to sit on the stairs , police do not object. When large crowds are expected lot of red tape creeps in. Can we at least be more consistent?
George Saliba
May 25th 2009, 14:50
First of all congratualtions to Hibs and to their hardworking President. However the MFA and its officials should be ashamed, organised disorganisation. Also how is it possibel to hand over the trophy to a team on a Table-tennis? What if the table had given way? Doesn't the MFA a stand on which to hand over the trophy.
What a shame
Kenneth Cassar
May 25th 2009, 14:50
Well done Hibs! You made us proud!
Not so for MFA.
What Matthew Frendo says is true. Also, the entrance to the North Stand was closed and we (Hibs supporters) were directed to the Millenium stand..finding only two booths open and hundreds of customers literally fighting to get a ticket. To add insult to (nearly literal) injury, when we entered the Millenium stand, we saw that the North Stand was two-thirds empty...and access to it was only opened a few minutes before the match started.
The MFA showed itself to be a bunch of incompetents...and it probably will be the last time I visit Ta Qali stadium until matters improve.
If there had been any health and safety inspectors (worth their salt), the match would surely have been cancelled...but of course, this is Malta...who cares about customers' safety. And then they expect more paying customers to attend!
So once again...well done Hibs! MFA committee resign, and make way for people who are competent and care about customer safety.
Alan Aquilina
May 25th 2009, 14:49
Continued from previous post - Funnily enough i saw that the area behind the post was just half full and to add insult to injury 2 mins later a police officer came and opened the dividing door between the millenium stand and the Hibs side behind the post. So luckily for me I ended up at the Hibs side, next to a guy who unluckily paid more than me, getting the same view and atmosphere
Well done MFA!!! And you want to encourage more people to attend. Did you ever hear of online ticketing?
Alan Aquilina
May 25th 2009, 14:44
I am a Hibs supporter and I would like to say WELL DONE to both teams AND A BIG THANK YOU to our team.
I am happy how the evening turned out but not as it started. Here is my story:
I arrived at the ground at 4pm, found enclosure closed which I knew it would be so I went to the ticket booth behind the post. As soon as I arrived at the front of the queue, they closed the shutter saying that the section was full and a police sent us to the millenium stand, where getting a ticket meant going in a crowd of people pushing, swearing and shouting in order to get to the 1 window out of 6 which was open. Luckily I managed to get tickets and then tried to go in. The police stopped me saying that with a Hibs T-shirt I couldn't go in (after the other police sent me to the millenium stand). So I went out of the queue, turned my T-shirt inside out and went into another queue and magically that did the job :). I was in! Hurray! -- to be continued
Matthew Frendo
May 25th 2009, 13:09
Though I am a Valletta FC Supporter, I would like to congratulate Hibernians for winning the BOV Premier Title. I would like to join with Mr T Mallia and Mr Paul Attard in voicing my utter disappointment and disgust in how matters were handled by the MFA and all those concerned.
1 - We arrived at the stadium around 1.30PM to find the gates closed and a good number of people waiting outside. Why weren't they opened beforehand so as to start admitting people slowly? Elsewhere, what if one had to set up some booths in Paola and Valletta (always under the auspices of the MFA) and sell tickets through-out the week? (this might have suited them if they still wanted to open the time they opened!
2 - We were left out in the sun for nearly an hour. Secondly, when police arrived they decided to set up some barriers. This worsened matters since who was first ended up last and pushing pursued. This wasn't a healthy scenario for children and old-aged persons. Someone could have got injured easily.
3 - Valletta enclosure could have seated 100 more persons but the gate was closed earlier.
jesmond zammit
May 25th 2009, 13:02
as a floriana supporter im happy for hibs ,well done.
congratulations mark miller .i remember when you where with floriana ,and we won the league and trophy. well done mark
John Micallef
May 25th 2009, 11:46
Congrats to Hibs thou as a game I would have expected them to play in a more attacking way. Valletta lost the title by losing to Marsaxlokk and not yesterday and another big mistake was selling Frank Temil which was the backbone of Valletta last year ! If Frank was still a Valletta player things would have been very different !!!!!!!
A Fabri
May 25th 2009, 11:18
Altough I hail from Floriana.....Big congratulations to Mr. Miller+his boys, Hibs Club and all the Paolites for winning a very much deserved championship.
Again I would like to thank you for shutting up Valletta supporters non sense insults .....believe me they do not know nothing about sportsmanship & respect...they deserve it. Floriana had a very peaceful night!!
T. Mallia
May 25th 2009, 10:38
A big Prosit to hibs for bring the title back to Paola.
However one has to note after this game that MFA do not have any idea of how to handle a big occasion like this. First of all, the bars ran out of everything even before the half time, leaving a crowd of thirsty families, including women and children in the scorching heat. On a positive note, I have to admire and congratulate the people who showed great compassion by sharing their drinks with children and elderly people who did not make it in time to buy something before the bars ran out of drinks
Secondly, The flow of people in the grounds needs to be addressed, as on Hibs side , for example, there were only 4 ticket boots at the entrance, forcing a large crowd waiting outside, (again in the sun), squashing each other, and creating a very uncomfortable situation.
Last but not least, it is about time that the police and the government do a bit of traffic management in the area. Ta Qali has become the main venue for occasions that attract thousands of people, so this problem has to be tackled fast
Paul Attard
May 25th 2009, 10:37
yestarday i want to the Stadium, as many others did... my complements to hibs for the title...
but there was a big disaster to buy a ticket for the millenium stand. only 2 windows from the 7 available... and every one pushing each other to buy a ticket..... no police, no security, no order, nothing just a large numbers of people trying to buy a ticket.... what a big big shame
Alex Spiteri
May 25th 2009, 09:33
hibs gave a perfect demonstration, that building a team in order to win trophies u must invest in the youths and nursery section. unlike, valletta, most of hibs players are of their own product!
spending thousands of euros on over-rated players, won't buy any long term success!
FORZA HIBS!