Hibernians 2
Barbara 33; Cohen 86
Qormi 2
Effiong 24; Camilo 79 pen.
Qormi, the pace-setters of the BOV Premier League, ran into Hibs, the reigning champions last night.
Dubbed as the highlight of this weekend's five-match programme, the two contestants were adamant on taking maximum points to underline their title credentials and consolidate their position in the upper part of the table.
A high-octane match finished all square in every sense as Qormi and Hibs shared four goals, two red cards and the points.
Qormi thought they had won it when Camilo, who has rarely been out of the headlines this week, put them 2-1 up with just 12 minutes left but the valiant Hibs hit back for the second time to salvage a point and stay in the title hunt.
Jesmond Zerafa handed newcomers Stefan Giglio and Matthew Bartolo their Qormi debut yesterday. With Joseph Farrugia ruled out by injury, Giglio was given the onus of replacing the Qormi captain in midfield.
The sight of Brazilian striker Camilo running onto the pitch with the rest of his team-mates was greeted with a raucous cheer from the buoyant Qormi fans.
Camilo is the subject of interest from a South Korean club but Qormi have so far rejected the advances for their star striker.
With Camilo back in the thick of things, Zerafa reverted to 4-4-2 with Nigerian forward Alfred Effiong flanking the Brazilian in attack.
The only notable absentee for Hibs yesterday was midfielder Christian Callejas who is recovering from a knee injury.
Mark Miller, the Hibs coach, opted for a 4-2-3-1 approach in which Etienne Barbara and Andrew Cohen were expected to probe for openings and offer support to Latvian forward Oleg Malasenoks.
Nine minutes from the start of the game had elapsed when Massimo Grima's curling cross from a left-wing free-kick was fisted away by Mario Muscat.
The early exchanges were short on creative fare as the two teams toiled to establish a foothold.
Hibs defender Aaron Xuereb met a Cohen corner with a dipping half-volley but Matthew Farrugia, the Qormi goalkeeper, saved.
Qormi created the first flowing move of the game on 18 minutes. Jonathan Bondin, one of three Valletta players on loan with Qormi, underlined his improvement by sweeping past an opponent in his own half before picking out Effiong. The Nigerian exchanged passes with Camilo who burst into the box but his effort drew a fine save from Muscat.
Hibs let out a sigh of relief but midway into the first half, they fell behind. Giglio caught Hibs defence on the wrong foot as his through-ball reached the steaming Effiong who stroked the ball past the on-rushing Muscat.
The erstwhile subdued Hibs were now obliged to raise their game to recover the deficit. Edward Herrera should have done better than shoot high and wide after receiving from Pulis.
The Paolites would have made it one-all had Keith Fenech not cleared Xuereb's header off the line following a Cohen corner.
It was end-to-end stuff at this stage as, in their next foray, Qormi almost doubled their lead when Bartolo sped into the box before producing a diagonal drive that Muscat just managed to tip away for a corner.
Reprieved by their excellent goalkeeper, Hibs equalised three minutes past the half-hour. Ironically, Muscat also had a hand in his team's goal as his long clearance was headed on by Cohen towards Barbara who held off Roderick Sammut before prodding past Farrugia.
Qormi threatened to regain the lead almost instantly when Bartolo released Effiong in the box but the latter completely miscued his shot.
At the start of the second half, Miller sought to widen the scope of his team's attacking play with the introduction of winger Chris Camilleri.
Just past the hour mark, referee Alan Mario Sant had to contend with a contentious episode as Effiong went down in the box after making contact with Rumen Galabov. 'Penalty' screamed the Qormi fans but Sant deemed that Effiong had dived and duly showed him a yellow card.
Sant took centre-stage again when brandishing the red card to dismiss Qormi midfielder Fenech and Barbara, the Hibs forward, after the two clashed in an off-the-ball incident.
The atmosphere on the stands became somewhat tense but sights were drawn back to the field of play when, with 12 minutes left, Qormi were awarded a penalty after Muscat was adjudged to have tripped the goalbound Effiong in the box.
Camilo drove his shot into the net before receiving a standing ovation from his adoring fans as he made way for defender Kenneth Spiteri.
Hibs looked down and out but they weren't. Four minutes from the end, substitute Triston Caruana floated the ball into the penalty box and Pulis laid it back to Cohen who beat Farrugia with a rasping drive.
Hibernians:M. Muscat-7, J. Caruana-6, E. Herrera-6, A. Pulis-6, A. Xuereb-6 ('83 B. Camilleri), J. Pearson-5 ('46 C. Camilleri-5), R. Galabov-5, O. Malasenoks-6, A. Cohen-7.5, E. Barbara, R. Camilleri-5.5 ('72 T. Caruana).
Qormi:M. Farrugia-6, Ramon-7, J. Bondin-6.5, S. Wellman-5, R. Sammut-5, S. Giglio-7, M. Grima-5.5, K. Fenech, M. Bartolo-6.5 ('72 R. Deguara), Camilo-6.5 ('80 K. Spiteri), A. Effiong-6.5.
Referee Alan Mario Sant.
Yellow cards Caruana; Fenech; Effiong; Muscat; Camilo.
Red cards Fenech (Q) 68; Barbara (H) 68.
BOV player of the match Alfred Effiong (Qormi).