Second defeat for Stars, St Patrick sink Mosta

Vittoriosa Stars 0
Mqabba 1

Vittoriosa Stars suffered their second consecutive defeat in the KO competition for Division One teams yesterday in a game that failed to live up to expectations.

Martin Anastasi’s goal midway through the second half gave Mqabba their second win in three games to stay in contention for qualification.

The opening half was a drab affair with referee Sammy Attard, who was making his debut in this category, very much in control.

Mauro Brincat found space but shot weakly for Vittoriosa and, at the other end, Vilson Caushi’s shot was stopped by Henry Bonello, the Stars keeper.

Mqabba looked the likelier side to score and they reached their objective on 67 minutes.

Despite being sandwiched between two defenders, Anastasi rose high to head home an inviting Shawn Magro centre.

Winston Muscat’s Vittoriosa looked stunned. They were lucky not to concede again when, on 71 minutes, Caushi stole a ball in the Vittoriosa half but was blocked in time by the alert Bonello.

Minutes later, Anastasi should have done better than shoot straight at Bonello following some good work by Patrick Borg.

Vittoriosa tried to react and the introduction of substitutes Jonathan Xerri and Charles Cachia had a positive effect on their performance.

Cachia ran into space on 77 minutes but his shot was stopped by Kris Calleja. Three minutes later, Xerri saw his drive from just outside the box finish just wide after a perfect Beppe Muscat throughball.

Vittoriosa: H. Bonello, C. Micallef, P. Aquilina, K. Formosa (J. Spiteri), B. Bonnici, G. Inguanez, P. Camilleri (J. Xerri), M. Brincat, B. Muscat, J. Chetcuti, J. Felice (C. Cachia).

Mqabba: K. Calleja, M. Catania, M. Bonnici, P. Grima, P. Borg, M.A. Psaila, S. Magro, M. Gauci (G. Barry), O. Grech, V. Caushi, M. Anastasi (C. Calleja).

Referee: Sammy Attard.

St Patrick 3
Mosta 1

After going down 4-1 to Marsaxlokk, Mosta again found the going tough against St Patrick who practically dominated from start to finish.

Alfred Attard’s side had Thomas Caruana and Gordon Failla in superb form with the duo giving the Mosta defence a torrid time.

The Saints created several scoring chances in the opening half. After 16 minutes, Failla rifled a strong drive but Jonathan Debono tipped the ball away for a corner.

It was no surprise that, on 20 minutes, the Saints forged ahead. From a corner action, the ball fell to Caruana whose half-volley sailed into the net.

Minutes later, Mark Briggs’s weak drive for Mosta was saved easily by Sean Mintoff. Five minutes from half-time, Failla’s free-kick ended just wide.

St Patrick increased their lead three minutes into the second half. Caruana’s first-time strike was repelled by Debono but Failla drove home from the rebound.

As the second half moved on, Mosta intensified their efforts to get back into contention. Twenty minutes from time, a shot by Briggs took a deflection off a defender with the ball falling into the arms of goalkeeper Mintoff.

On 78 minutes, Adrian Borg handed Mosta a lifeline when heading home from a Bryan Agius free-kick. With Mosta pushing for an equaliser, St Patrick could have scored a third when Ilyad Scicluna burst through but he was dispossessed by Alex Cini.

St Patrick secured their win when substitute Alex Ellul headed home from a corner.

Deep into stoppage time, Lyden Micallef hit a post from close range for Mosta.

As in the previous match, the referee, Mario Apap, was controlling his first match in Division One.

St Patrick: S. Mintoff, M. Pullicino, D. Gauci, S. Zerafa, B. Bugeja (R. Cassar), R. Mifsud, L. Sciberras, J. Farrugia (A. Ellul), T. Farrugia, G. Failla (I. Scicluna), T. Caruana.

Mosta: J. Debono, K. Farrugia, D. Cauchi (A. Cini), A. Borg, B. Agius, M. Briggs, M. Farrugia, J. Bajada (C. Pace), L. Stivala (P. Vassallo), J. Vella, L. Micallef.

Referee: Mario Apap.

Today's Matches

Tedesco Stadium: 18.00 Balzan vs Pietà; 20.15 Marsaxlokk vs San Ġwann.