Vittoriosa edge past Mosta to close in on promotion

Mosta 1
Vittoriosa Stars 2

Vittoriosa Stars closed in on promotion after a hard-fought win over Mosta.

The Cottonera outfit have now opened a five-point lead over third-placed Balzan Youths with two matches to go even though the Youths have a game in hand.

Although Mosta have no promotion aspirations as they are languishing in mid-table position they were on a par with their opponents and at times they also showed the better football.

Mosta couldn't have had a better start when after only two minutes they forged ahead when Justin Camilleri brought down Terrence Vella in the box and the Mosta forward made no mistake from the resultant penalty.

Winston Muscat's side looked stunned and Mosta continued to dictate matters with Gilbert Martin going close to adding a second minutes later but his close-range effort finished just wide.

Vittoriosa at last started threatening and in the 11th minute a Michael Borg Olivier grounder just missed the target. The Stars managed to draw level on 21 minutes when Beppe Muscat finished off a fine run after he was set up by Leontin Chitescu.

Two minutes later, Mosta could have regained the lead but Mark Briggs mishit a close-range effort.

After such an early flurry the game died down a bit even though just before the break Briggs's free-kick was tipped away for a corner by Alex Camilleri.

Mosta continued to show the better ideas in the second half and although most of the play was mainly in midfield, Oliver Spiteri's side looked more incisive.

On 57 minutes, Mosta went close when Martin's quick feet were too much for his markers, and after beating two defenders his low drive was saved by Alex Camilleri.

Despite all Mosta's effort, Vittoriosa managed to forge ahead against the run of play when in the 65th minute a Henry Makinwa header was partially saved by Jonathan Debono and Jeffrey Chetcuti was on hand to fire home.

On 72 minutes, Mosta had a Briggs free-kick which went just wide while with two minutes to go Makinwa nearly made it three when he blasted the ball wide from just inside the box.

Mosta: J. Debono; K. Farrugia, B. Galea, L. Stivala, M. Brincat, M. Briggs, J. Vella (A. Borg), L. Grima (V. Osobu), L. Micallef, T. Vella (C. Pace), G. Martin.

Vittoriosa: A. Camilleri; J. Camilleri, P. Aquilina, B. Bonnici, J. Chetcuti (G. Inguanez), J. Spiteri, B. Muscat, H. Makinwa, L. Chitescu, M. Borg Olivier (C. Micallef).

Referee: Kevin Azzopardi.

Man of the match: Jeffrey Chetcuti (Vittoriosa Stars).